No records of transport for lands claimed by Lincoln Lewis at Kingelly

There is no record of any Transport at the Land Registry to prove that several acres of land at Kingelly, West Coast Berbice (WCB), are in fact ancestral lands belonging to the linage of trade unionist Lincoln Lewis, as he is claiming.
This is according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall.
While in Opposition, Nandlall had worked with residents of the Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) village to secure prescriptive titles for the lands that they use for farming purposes including as pastures for their cattle.

He recalled that Lewis first made claims to the lands in 2017 during a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into African ancestral land established by the then David Granger Administration.
At that testimony, he had produced an apparent Transport for the land which he claimed was ancestral lands bought by his great great grandfather.
But Nandlall said he had met with residents during a subsequent visit to Kingelly and found out that they have been occupying the lands for decades, and the lands were previously occupied by their foreparents.
Further investigation revealed that there was no record of any Transport for the lands.

As such, Nandlall said he represented around 25 to 30 residents and obtained prescriptive rights from the Land Court for them.
“I made applications to Land Court on behalf of several residents for declaration of titles by prescription. Now no one had opposed the applications at the time including Lincoln Lewis… And the Registrar’s report indicated that there was no title for the land. If there were titles for the land then the Registrar’s report would have reflected that. So several declarations of prescriptive titles were granted to the residents,” Nandlall explained.
However, weeks ago, Lewis turned up at Kingelly and claimed ownership of the lands that he said was part of his ancestral inheritance. He was in the company of two others including a member of the Kingelly Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
Not only did Lewis renew his claims to the lands but he also tore down fencing that residents had elected and proceeded to build his own fence in order to block residents from accessing the lands.
The confrontation between Lewis and the residents was captured on video. In that video, he was claiming ownership of the lands and as such, was asked by the residents to produce same. At one point, he had even pushed down a post that residents had erected.
One woman was heard saying in the video that they were making a pen to put her cows in but Lewis broke down the structure.
“Them come stop abee,” the woman declared.
The residents, most of whom said they were born and grew up there, claim that they have lived and farmed on the lands for decades after inheriting it from their parents and/or grandparents. They were using the lands mostly as pastures.
According to the residents, Lewis is claiming the lands because he was supposed to sell them off.
To this end, after that incident, the villagers travelled to Georgetown and met with several Ministers including Housing, Public Works and Local Government as well as Nandlall himself, seeking to have redress.
The matter has since been reported to the Police with complaints of trespassing, assault and damage to property filed against the trade unionist.
Nandlall contended that Lewis has no Transport or title to claim ownership of the land.
He further posited that the lands are State Lands and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will work to ensure that it remains in the possession of the residents of Kingelly, who have been occupying the lands and depend on it for their livelihood. (G8)