Land CoI moving ahead with public consultations despite objections from Toshaos’ Council

As the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) continues to wait on a response to its request to meet with President David Granger, the controversial Land Commission of Inquiry (CoI) is all set to begin public hearings in June, officially starting its work.

On Tuesday, when Guyana Times International contacted the Commission’s Secretariat, an employee said a tentative date of June 7 was set for the start of all public hearings. The hearings would be conducted at the Commission’s Secretariat at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) office. However, the Commissioners are urging persons to visit the Hadfield Street office at any time providing they have information to aid the working of the Commission.

NTC Vice Chairman Lenox Shuman said the body was not going to cooperate with the Commission. “So far, we have approximately 90 per cent of all the villages and their Toshaos in agreement with the position we have taken,” he said.

“We are expecting full support from the others and we are reaching out to them to know their position and determine our next step,” he added.

Shuman told this publication that the NTC would not be attending the hearing in a participatory or observatory capacity. “If we go there to observe, then it will seem as though we are participating, so we will stay away altogether,” he said.

The CoI was established in March of 2017 by President Granger to examine and make recommendations to resolve all issues and uncertainties surrounding the claims of Amerindian land titling; the individual, joint or communal ownership of lands acquired by freed Africans and any matters relating to land titling in Guyana. The Commission is being chaired by Reverend George Chuck-A-Sang and includes David James, Carol Khan-James, Professor Rudolph James, Lennox Caleb, Paulette Henry, and Belinda Persaud.

However, the NTC has condemned the CoI since its establishment, noting that Amerindian land issues were much more complex and as such, called on the Administration to have it revoked.

Opposition Member of Parliament and former Amerindian Affairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai tabled a motion at the May 8 sitting of the National Assembly calling for the revocation of the CoI.

Sukhai’s motion stated that the terms of reference of the CoI were published in the Official Gazette on March 11, 2017, the day after six of the seven members of the Commission of Inquiry were sworn in. It added that in so doing the Government denied the NTC, Amerindian communities and Amerindian Non-Governmental Organisations the right to be informed and consulted as to the rationale for and the objectives of the Commission. The motion, therefore, called for an immediate revocation of the CoI.

The final report of the Commission is expected to be handed over to the President on or before November 1, unless an extension is granted.

Other organisations, including the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples, The Amerindian Action Movement, South Central Peoples Development Association, and the National Amerindian Development Foundation, have all protested the merging of the two issues under one blanket CoI.