Latest update June 15th, 2026 6:14 PM
An open letter to the President
Dear Mr. President,
At the launch of the UN Year for People of African Descent you promised that your “government will remove obstacles to the development of African people wherever it is found”.
We welcome this sincerely and ask you to quickly resolve a 10-year land issue that epitomizes “greed, vindictiveness and lawlessness beyond your wildest imagination”.
Issues such as this one breed “mistrust and ultimate racial animosity”. Issues such as this keep our races apart and are precisely why the UN Proclamation is centered on the rights that are denied Africans.
The Proclamation itself stated Africans should have “their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights”.
The facts of this pernicious situation should be in your hands as we have visited the Office of the President no less than six times, have sent out a Press release on the matter, and most recently, received a letter from your Secretary on 13 December 2010, acknowledging receipt of our appeal to you”.
A summary of the problem is given here to provide clarity on the reality of the situation.
• The Straughn family of Parika own ancestral lands for which they have the legal title.
a. My grandfather Mr. Thomas Anderson occupied this property on Transport 340 dated 21st August 1933 and my ancestors before him.
b. On August 7th 1957 my father secured transport No: 1475 for the said portion of land.
c. On the 5th of December 1974 my father Tyrell August Levy obtained the certificate of title for all his lands held previously under transport No. 1475.
d. On June 11, 1983 my father passed to my brother Mark Levy all the parcels of lands held under No. 467 of 1974. This was done by a judicial process before the Commissioner of Title and Judge of the Land Court.
e. All rates and taxes on the land have been paid and have never been unpaid for any period of time.
• A wealthy and prominent businessman approached our family to buy our land over 10 years ago. We told him we were not selling. At that time, he was ouite aware the lands belonged to the Straughns.
• After several requests for us to sell him and our refusal, the businessman, through whatever connections he has, maliciously showed up with a 99-year lease for our properties.
• For almost 10 years now, he has used the court system and this “illegal” lease to “sue us for being on our own lands”. This has caused us millions of dollars in court fees defending the “right to be on our own titled land”.
• He has placed heavy equipment and just last year a huge fuel tank on our property while obtaining a restraining order, prohibiting us from using our own lands”.
• He has currently fenced our lands and it appears he plans to expand his fuel business in the Essequibo river, on our lands.
Mr. President, a complaint was made by letter to Dr. Roger Luncheon since early last January.
We are aware that research was done at the Lands & Survey and it has been re-affirmed that the lands legally belong to the Straughns, as was known 10 years ago by this businessman.
Mr. President, nothing can be more malicious and frightening than this. The Laws of Guyana are not protecting the rights of some.
And Mr. President, there are countless more horror stories in other communities with respect to land issues.
Over the past five years, in outreaches to different parts of Guyana, ACDA has been exposed to a large number of complaints about ancestral lands, about barefaced encroachment by individuals who act in conspiracy to obtain prescriptive rights.
Many African Guyanese claim they are being robbed of their lands through gangsterism, bullyism, rank corruption and a rip-van-winkle court. In many situations “malice and arrogance” have replaced the Rule of Law.
The letter from the Straughn family to ACDA in March of this year highlights the severity and injustice of the situation.
Mr. President, as a confirmation of your words at the UN Launch, namely your “government will remove obstacles to the development of African people wherever it is found”, can you use the Power of the Presidency to provide “Justice” to the Straughns. They have suffered too long. They have spent too much money in the courts. They have had their human rights egregiously abused for too long
May the ‘Spirit” of the UN Year for People of African Unity be driven by your action on this matter.
Eric M. Phillips
Executive Member (ACDA)
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