What land issues and uncertainties is the Govt talking about?

Dear Editor,

The history of Guyana records that the Amerindians were the first people here, in what is now known as Guyana. No Commission of Inquiry can change that fact.

The recent establishment of a Commission of Inquiry by President David Granger to “examine and make recommendations on resolving issues and uncertainties surrounding the individual, joint or communal ownership of lands along with Amerindian Land Titling issues” has resulted in a vehement and bitter outcry among our Indigenous people, including their elected village councils, indigenous groups, the National Toshaos Council, and supporters and members of the People’s Progressive Party.

A majority of the Guyanese population view the establishment of this Commission as both a transgression of the land rights and “an expression of gross disrespect for the Amerindian people of Guyana” — whose fast growing population, numbering over 70,000 living in over 200 villages/communities — accounts for almost 10% of Guyana’s population.

What land issues and uncertainties is the Government talking about? The only issues and uncertainties would be the Government’s position with respect to moving the land titling, land extension and demarcation processes forward.

May I remind the Government that the rights of our Amerindian people to their traditional lands and resources are clearly set out in the Constitution of Guyana and in the Amerindian Act of 2006?

May I also draw attention to the fact that the Amerindian Village Councils, the Indigenous Peoples’ Commission, and the National Toshaos Council, elected bodies, are empowered to promote and protect these interests and rights?

In fact, the Constitution specifically makes provision for our Amerindian people, so that while the issue of reparations and repatriation of African lands is important, these are two distinctly separate issues that must be addressed separately.

Is the CoI a Trojan Horse plan and nefarious attempt to usurp the role and functions of these constitutionally established bodies which deal, inter alia, with Amerindian land rights? How disrespectful can we become?

The idea that Amerindians should be recognised as owners of their land began to gain momentum in the years just preceding our country’s independence, on May 26th, 1966, thanks primarily to the advocacy of Guyana’s first Amerindian Parliamentarian, Mr Stephen Campbell, and leader of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Cheddi Jagan. Our history records that there was a hiatus in terms of the political effort of the Government of the 1964 to 1992 epoch to move this process forward.

Our Amerindian people did not have to wait until 2017 for an ill-informed and lethargic APNU/AFC Government to set up a Commission of Enquiry to investigate what is already known with respect to Amerindian lands and land rights. Indeed, while the PPP/C Government worked with the Amerindian leaders and the Amerindian people to provide improved social services and physical infrastructure, and so create for them wider choices in respect of goods and services available to them, we did through a consultative process; and by providing the required resources, enact Legislation, formulate policies and programmes, and facilitate the required activities to give recognition and protection to the rights of our Amerindian people, including their rights to the lands they own and occupy.

When the PPP/C demitted office in May 2015, some 98 Amerindian villages had received grants of title to their lands, and the process of consultation with additional communities that had met the qualifying requirements for titling was a work in progress in order to ensure that legislative and procedural requirements were being met; and the villagers understood and were satisfied with the process.

This is what the APNU/AFC Coalition Government should be pursuing with the respective village councils, the National Toshaos Council Executive and the Indigenous People’s Commission; not setting up another CoI so as to reward cronies.

While in some countries Amerindian people have only rights of use of the land, in Guyana they own the land. No Commission of Inquiry can change that fact.

Sincerely,

Norman Whittaker