Raphael
Trotman’s recent declarations on the validity of land titles delivered to “many” Amerindian villages, translate his malign intentions to deceive Amerindians, as well as his recurrent dishonesty to the Guyanese public.
One would recall that earlier this year, this trait of character manifested itself in Parliament when he denied having knowledge of another Minister mining on Tasserene proposed title land. Strangely, he had been called upon by civil actors since January 2016, to rectify this anomaly.
It appears that Trotman is not only defending the mining interests of certain business magnates, but is also seeking to satisfy the claims of voters who settled in recent years on traditional Amerindian lands, subsequently stirring ethnic tensions in Amerindian communities.
Signs of Trotman’s peculiar position taken against Amerindian land titling first surfaced when he promised to have the claims of persons opposed to the Four Miles Absolute Grant, “resolved”. Unfortunately, either Trotman was trying to appease coalition supporters or he was completely ignorant, even in his capacity as a lawyer, of the fact that Absolute Grants convey irrevocable and inalienable ownership rights to Amerindian villages.
At the last NTC Conference however, he set a dangerous precedence in the war between miners and Amerindians, when he declared that “just before elections a set of documents (…) purporting to be titles were handed out”. More than just questioning the credibility of these titles, the Natural Resources Minister went one step further and deposited the documents for investigation by the Attorney General’s office. Perhaps “somebody should be charged for fooling the people…because it’s mischief…it is cruelty to come and lie to you and fool (you), to try to get the vote, I’m not sure,” the Minister said.
This even beats former Minister Robert Persaud’s reluctance to cooperate under the Amerindian Land Titling project and his disapproval for the titling of villages located in prime mining areas, such as Tasserene and Kangaruma.
What Trotman has done, is given carte blanche to people like the former GGDMA President Patrick Harding, and ACDA President Eric Phillips, to question the legitimacy of indigenous peoples’ land rights.
Patrick Harding in his recent address at the GGDMA’s annual general meeting, went so far as to dismiss indigenous land rights, stating that Amerindians “don’t want lands for culture or whatever”, and charging that the titles delivered to these “many” villages Trotman referred to were not valid. This is the commencement of a deluge of insults which will continue to stigmatise Amerindians under the full approbation of Trotman and this coalition.
The truth?
The titles Trotman referred to are those delivered to Tuseneng, Karisparu, Kambaru-Omanaik, Four Miles, Kariako and Batavia. Of these six villages, five have been under investigation since 2013 and after battling with the Natural Resources Ministry, were cleared of mining encumbrances. Four Miles has been the object of full consultative investigation involving all stakeholders and under UN observation, to ensure the respect for FPIC. After intensive field work and mapping, the GFC, GLSC and GGMC certified that encumbrances were cleared.
The six titles were issued with official seal and signature of the Head of the Permanent Secretariat, on behalf of the President of Guyana, as was done for villages prior to 2014. They were issued by the GLSC which has a responsibility for placing a copy of each document in its vault.
Consequently, it is the GLSC and not so much the Attorney General that is apt for determining the validity of these titles. Therefore, the Minister is deliberately misleading Guyanese, and the Indigenous Peoples Affaires Ministry must step up and hold him accountable for his irresponsible pronouncements.
Further, his scheme is a waste of time and resources as he provides false hopes to those who covet Amerindian lands.
The titles were issued by the GLSC as early as November 2015 for Tuseneng and not right before the 2015 elections as the Minister claimed. These dates are inscribed on the Grants themselves.
Trotman’s utterances depict the nature of Government policies aimed at reducing the importance of indigenous peoples to this country, while dismissing their constitutional rights which are actually embedded in Guyana’s fight for independence, for the benefit other interest groups, including those defending African land reparation and miners.
He owes Amerindians an apology and must be brought to respect his ministerial obligations to protect their rights, instead of insulting them and adding to the strain of a stagnating economy instigated by his Government.
