IAC corrects inaccuracies on its position on lands

Oct 07, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The Indian Action Committee (IAC) is writing to correct inaccuracies contained in the report published in the Guyana Chronicle (Wednesday, October 4, 2017) pertaining to the presentation made by IAC representative Evan Radhay Persaud to the Lands Commission Of Inquiry (Lands COI) on the morning of Tuesday, October 3, 2017.
The IAC’s presentation to the Lands COI consisted of the following six points:
1) Guyana is comprised of 83,000 square miles and the IAC is of the opinion that there is enough land for all Guyanese citizens; and all the peoples of Guyana from time immemorial have made their contributions to make this land a productive country.
2) The IAC is opposed to the idea that in the present circumstances of Guyana that land should be taken away from one set of people to be given to another set.
3) Article 18 of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana states: “Land is for social use and must go to the tiller.” The IAC strongly feels that except for designated reserves, land must be put to productive use in order to increase the wealth of the country and so must be distributed carefully to potential users who are citizens of Guyana regardless of their ethnicity.
4) The present legal arrangements in Guyana permit for Guyanese who wish to use land productively to apply to the Government for land.
5) The IAC believes that the recent increase in taxation for farmers has become a burden and a disincentive for them who wish to use the land productively.
6) The concept of ancestral land is unknown in the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and its other laws. The IAC is of the opinion that ancestral lands refer to ‘time immemorial occupied lands’ and only the first peoples also known as the indigenous peoples, also known as the Amerindian tribes can be described as living within the geographical area of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana since time immemorial. No Guyanese of any other ethnicities can claim time immemorial occupation of Guyana.
The Guyana Chronicle, however, published the following inaccuracies:
1) The IAC representative stated that the word “ancestral” is UNKNOWN in the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. An information sheet with the points of the IAC was given to the reporter from the Guyana Chronicle at the end of the session: the word UNKNOWN is printed in that sheet but the Guyana Chronicle (Wednesday, October 4, 2017) printed KNOWN instead.
2) The IAC representative who stated that the term “ancestral lands” refers to ‘time immemorial occupied lands’ posited that though a case could be made for the country’s indigenous peoples living here from “time immemorial”, in reality the first peoples are immigrants themselves, the descendants of Siberians who crossed from Asia into what is now known as North America sometime during the last ice age which lasted from 120,000 years ago to 13,000 years ago.
The IAC strongly believes that the positions that the organization has taken are reasonable ones that are supported by the majority of the citizens of Guyana, especially those of Indo-Guyanese origin.
The IAC was astounded to learn during the course of the session from the mouth of the Chairman of the Lands COI himself, Rev. Oswald P. Chuck- A- Sang, that the Lands COI would not be entertaining any discussion regarding Amerindian lands because that section of the Lands COI has been put on hold but no explanation was offered by any of the Commissioners present for this: The IAC finds this to be very troubling.
The IAC then came to the understanding, as corroborated by some of the Commissioners, that the Lands COI at this time would be concerned only with matters concerning African-owned lands, primarily contentious issues pertaining to land within historical African communal villages and, to a lesser extent, historical proprietary lands owned by Africans individually in the front lands of former plantations that existed at the time of the abolition of slavery, and during and after the period of Apprenticeship.
The IAC wishes to reiterate that there is enough land in Guyana for everyone who wishes to use it productively, and this land that we have now has been developed overtime by all the peoples of this country; especially the agricultural land and therefore, not one single group is responsible for that development.
The IAC urges all Guyanese to remember that Article 1 of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, states that “Guyana is an indivisible secular sovereign state in transition from capitalism to socialism”; and Article 18 states that “Land is for social use and MUST go to the tiller”.
The IAC hopes that the work of the Lands COI will not undermine social cohesion in this country and national unity.
Saira Alli
Indian Action Committee

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