Govt. scraps proposed site for NTC headquarters …New location under consideration

Jul 22, 2018 News

President David Granger with Government officials and NTC leaders at the sod turning event in 2017.

After a sod turning event attended by President David Granger and a promise to soon hand over the proposed site at Sophia for the secretariat of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), the Government has scrapped those plans.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon at his post Cabinet media briefing on Friday disclosed that the President Granger in reviewing the proposed site felt that the land was ‘very small’.
He shared that there are current discussions underway with the NTC leadership and the Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, to use a larger plot of land previously owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
The matter has been a hot button political issue for several years. It took centre stage at the opening ceremony of the NTC conference last week with Indigenous community leaders lamenting the Government’s failure to deliver the title for the promised plot of land.
In August 2017, President David Granger had turned the sod at the Sophia land raising expectations that the Government would have fulfilled its promise. The previously identified land was said to have been processed through the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission with a 50-year lease.
The Indigenous Community continues to plead for the establishment of a Lands Commission, land rights, revision of the Amerindians Act and Constitutional Reform, among other issues.
The NTC is also awaiting a promised meeting with the President.
Under the NTC’s new Chairman, Nicholas Fredericks, and Vice-Chair Paul Pierre, the ball is in their court to ensure that their political concerns addressed in a timely manner.

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