Several indigenous communities to get land titles this year

…efforts to clear backlog ongoing – Minister

The Government will continue to support the Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) project and this year the Amerindian Affairs Ministry will be pursuing 22 extensions and three first time titles.

Additionally, in 2024 the ministry will conduct 39 demarcations in Indigenous communities.
The exercise, which will be executed during the first half of 2024, aims to help the ministry clear its substantial backlog in the approval and distribution of Amerindian land titles.
This was disclosed on Tuesday, Minister Pauline Sukhai during her ministry’s end of year press conference.
Sukhai explained to media operatives, that clearing the backlog will allow the ministry to process and approve more new land titles.
This is significant because Guyana has a 10 percent indigenous makeup with 16.4 percent of the land mass based on the current census data. But the process of new land titling has been a slow one.
“In the last three years we have moved to re-establishing a functioning unit that is taking seriously the titling of lands for Amerindians and last year we titled six…. and 25,677 Amerindian residents across our country are land secure…an application comes in but it’s not necessarily that we just sign off on it. We have to go down to the ground and we have to hold consultations with various stakeholders, national institutions, commissions and we have to compile a report with findings and recommendations that will be examined at a technical level,” Sukhai explained.
The six villages that received the titles last year are Four Miles, Region One (Barima-Waini); Paramakatoi, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); Copoey Extension, Mashabo Extension, Akawini and Wakapao in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
The Amerindian Land Titling process is being facilitated by the Amerindian Act of 2006 was scheduled to commence in 2013 and end in 2016 under the auspices of the Government of Guyana and the United Nations Development Fund, with funding of $2.2 billion (US$10.7 million) provided from the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF). However, the project was extended from 2016 to 2018 and subsequently from 2019 to 2021 and again from 2022 to 2024.
The project seeks to enable Amerindians to secure their lands and natural resources with a view towards sustainable social and economic development.
2023 achievements
Further, during the conference minister Sukhai announces that the ministry has expended its full budget sum on the development of the Amerindian people.
She explained that due to this, government has achieved all promises listed under the PPP/C manifesto under the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs within the last three years.
“Within the parameters of our responsibility and our budget, I believe that we have significantly made quite a lot of interventions that have today seen the village economy and village development and peoples’ livelihood and welfare being more visible,” the Amerindian Affairs leader explained.
Some of the interventions includes an increase to the presidential grants for Indigenous communities, which allows them to establish numerous targeted projects.
Small villages are now receiving one million dollars instead of 450,000 while bigger villages that were receiving close to $1.2 million are now receiving a minimum of $2 million or more.
Additionally, the ministry has since resumed the Youth Entrepreneurial and Apprenticeship Programme (YEAP) now commonly known as the Community Service Officers (CSO) Programme.
From this programme, the youths have sought training which has since enabled them to take up meaningful roles in their communities to aid in its development.
Moreover, on the topic of community support, Sukhai revealed that a total of 250 Indigenous communities received satellites and other forms of relieve, such as boat and engines, tractors, benefitted from the construction of shade houses, and training opportunities.