Land title distribution stymied under APNU/AFC Govt – Minister Sukhai

A review of the work done by the then Indigenous Peoples’ Ministry over the past five years as it relates to land titling has discovered that the designated unit produced little to no results while exhausting large sums of money. As a result, communities are still waiting for these titles to be issued.

This was disclosed by Amerindian Affairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai on Saturday, who explained that there is little outcome to show for the work done within the last five years to issue titles for indigenous villages.
She explained that when the Granger-led coalition took office in 2015, they dismantled the unit responsible for issuing land titling and took some 16 months to create a similar body to serve in this capacity.
Since it was created, extensions were made thrice to facilitate larger budget cuts but nothing significant has been done.

“We have determined that within the last five years, there has not been movement and realisation of the outputs of this project…Since that unit has been established, the low level of results is alarming and therefore, closer scrutiny of this unit has discovered is that within the last five years, there have been three extensions of the project. Extensions were mainly based on approval of expenditures for operational costs, not actual working to achieve targets,” Sukhai informed.
The increased funds, she noted, covered administrative costs of the project and salaries to employees. What has compounded the issue even further is the fact that their implementing partner, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC), hiked demarcating fees from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. As a result, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) withheld funding due to the exorbitant costs which were as a result of the increased fees.
The Ministry had just signed-off on the agreement to issue the titles with these high figures demanded by the GL&SC, without realising the implications.
“Their cost and estimate for demarcation have escalated enormously and that escalation of costs…This has led to some discussion and possible negotiations which were not resolved and therefore, UNDP have refused to disburse funds to Guyana Lands and Surveys to move ahead with demarcation.”
For almost one year, the project has been put on pause, as the Amerindian Land Titling Board did not facilitate any meetings to discuss or move forward with their plans. This has compounded the issue.
“This is something that we would have to reverse. We also discovered that some of the reasons for the pause in this project was the Board has not met since 2019. For an entire year, they have not met. If the Board do not meet, work plans cannot be approved, similarly, budgetary allocations for specific activities and budget for the ensuing period.”
According to Sukhai, intervention will be made as soon as possible to ensure that the project is back on track. During this time, even the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission has defied their partnership by issuing leases and permits for mining in Amerindian settlements, which should be provided for under a title.
The Amerindian Land Titling process was facilitated by the Amerindian Act of 2006 which catered for land titling and extensions. This led to the establishment of the Amerindian Land Titling Project, which commenced in 2013 and was scheduled to end in 2016. This was a US$10.7 million project funded by the GRIF programme.
After taking her Oath of Office as a member of President Irfaan Ali’s Cabinet earlier this month, Sukhai posited that access to titled lands was a key concern for Amerindians and reminded that her Ministry had allocated funds to ensure that lands applied for by Guyana’s Indigenous peoples are finally demarcated and titled.