The National Toshaos Council’s (NTC’s) conference of 2018 opened on Monday with incumbent Chairman Joel Fredericks blasting Government for a number of unfulfilled promises.
According to Fredericks, the indigenous peoples of Guyana were promised a number of things, such as the revision of the Amerindian Act of 2006; Constitutional reform, and land to build an NTC Secretariat.
Chairman Fredericks contended that, for three years, the NTC listened carefully to every indigenous people’s policy Government had announced. However, in those three years, trust has been eroded by Government’s failure to effectively act on promises made.
“Bit by bit, word by word, policy by policy, we saw the vision being eroded and drawn down… We were promised Land Commission, respect for our land rights,
NTC Chairman Joel Fredericks
and living in a lawful society. We were promised the revision of the Amerindian Act, constitutional reform, and in 2016 we were promised a plot of land for the NTC Secretariat,” Fredericks charged.
“As leaders, every time we make promises and break them, we erode the trust people have in us and our integrity… People gravitate to tangible things, such as their land and rights. On Heritage Day in Pakuri 2017, the people of Pakuri were promised their name change. In February of 2018, we were promised a meeting with His Excellency… And you know what? St. Cuthbert’s is still St. Cuthbert’s,” he charged.
When her turn came to address the gathering, Minister within the Indigenous People’s Affairs Ministry, Valerie Garrido-Lowe, pleaded with toshaos to exercise patience, noting that Government is working to improve indigenous people’s lives. At the same time, she acknowledged that much remains to be done.
President David Granger had sought to stress that Government still remains committed to providing a better life for indigenous peoples. He alluded to transportation for school children as one of several measures Government has implemented in hinterland areas, and noted that the NTC itself has a lot of work to do for the indigenous people.
On the sidelines of the event, Granger was asked about the chairman’s statements regarding broken promises. As he headed to his car, the President professed ignorance of any promise that had been broken. He recalled that in the case of the land, he himself had turned the sod at Sophia in August 2017 for land for the NTC Secretariat. It is, however, understood that the process has not been completed, since the NTC still does not have title to the land.
“I don’t know (that) any promise has been broken. They asked for a plot of land, I went there, turned the sod myself, and it’s being processed. I didn’t break any promises,” the President related.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo was also unaware of any promise made that had been broken. When issues such as land titling and the Amerindian Act were referenced, he noted that those are works in progress.
Land titling
The coalition Government has, however, failed to issue new land titles since taking office in 2015. Minister Allicock had previously admitted that only 26 per cent of the Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) Project has been completed.
The minister told the Parliamentary Natural Resources Committee recently that the ALT work programme, which commenced in 2013, would require another decade before it could be completed, although the project’s life comes to an end in October 2018.
According to Minister Allicock, only about 25 per cent of the total US$10 million earmarked for the project has thus far been utilised– some Gy$500 million, or US$2.5 million.
The Government had, in 2013, signed a US$10.7 million agreement for implementation of the Amerindian Land Titling and Demarcation Project, which concluded in 2016. However, an extension was requested in 2017, resulting in $165 million being earmarked for advancing of the remaining identified areas.
So far, 13 communities have applied for absolute grants for the first time. Of that number, seven have received approval, and six have been demarcated. Out of 23 communities, 14 have been issued with certificates of title; but there has so far been not one single community that has received a title under this Government.
The ALT Project seeks to achieve three major goals: completion of land titling issues and demarcation process for all Amerindian villages that submitted requests; increased use of existing and alternative mechanisms to resolve land titling disputes; and completion of a communication strategy, including a handbook describing the process of titling, demarcation, and the social economic impact of secure land tenure.
The project is being financed from the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) which came into being under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C’s) Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
