Unit to be established to address Indigenous land issues
― extension of Amerindian Land Titling project in process
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, April 4, 2019
The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs will be establishing a unit to address the long-standing issue of land titling and demarcation, and Indigenous land rights.
This was disclosed by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, at the North Pakaraimas District Council (NPDC) Land Summit held in Monkey Mountain, Region 8, on Wednesday.
The Monkey Mountain village, Region 8.
The minister emphasised that the government is keen on addressing the protracted land issue. Therefore, the unit will be a permanent mechanism to deal with the issues regarding Indigenous land.
He reminded that President David Granger had proposed a Commission of Enquiry (COI) to address land issues; something the past National Toshao Council (NTC) objected to. The president then decided to quash the COI and asked the then council to provide recommendations to address the issue.
While this was a setback, Minister Allicock said the Coalition Government would continue the process of addressing land issues in Guyana.
“This was an opportunity for us to start because we have the overlapping with miners and loggers and other business people. We would have gotten a lot of those issues sorted out by now…the population will get bigger and the demand for land will be greater.”
Under the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF), the government, in 2013, signed a $3Billion (US$11M) document for the implementation of the Amerindian Land Titling and Demarcation project, which concluded in 2016. However, the ministry requested an extension in 2017, resulting in $165M being earmarked for the advancement of the remaining identified areas for land titling.
According to Minister Allicock, the ministry made a further request to extend the project this year. This, he said, was necessary since it was not possible to complete the titling and demarcation of 67 communities within three years.
“We want this process to be done properly and we need time to ensure the villagers are satisfied with the process. What we have found is that a lot of mistakes were made before and now it is taking more time to correct those mistakes… So, we have not given up on it we are awaiting the extension.”
At the 2018 National Toshaos Conference, five communities; Tuseneng Village, Kato and Karisparu in Region 8; Batavia in Region 7; and Sawariwau in Region 9 received their land titles.
Synieka Thorne.
Images: Tejpaul Bridgemohan.