IDPADA-G, GTUC call for wider consultation on proposed amendment to the Acquisition of Lands for Public Purpose Act

Dec 18, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News- The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) is calling for Bill No. 16 of 2024 – The Acquisition of Lands for Public Purpose (Amendment) Act – to be sent to the Special Select Committee.

In a statement IDPADA-G explained that the proposed amendments pose a threat to landownership for all Guyanese, particularly to African Guyanese who are the beneficiaries of Ancestral lands (lands purchased, granted, and occupied).

As such, the group said the proposed amendment must be sent to Special Select Committee for careful review and debate and should be subjected to a transparent and inclusive consultative process.

IDPADA-G expressed concern that if passed, the Bill will give a “Minister” of government sweeping power to determine the lawful owners of land to be acquired for public purposes and to establish its value for government acquisition with no public hearings or consultation.

“All landowners will be affected by this amendment,” IDPADA-G said noting its particular concern that African Guyanese and the Ancestral Land to which they are entitled will be most affected given the unfinished work of bringing up to date and modernizing the ownership patterns and titles for these lands.

“From 1839, immediately after Emancipation, Africans purchased abandoned plantations amounting to thousands of acres of land along the coast; additional lands were granted for their use by the Crown.  These lands – both purchased and granted, communally or individually represent the land bequeathed to today’s African Guyanese community by their forefathers. Ownership of the land by African Guyanese is not a matter of dispute. What is required is political will to update documentation of ownership,” the group said in the statement.

As a result, IDPADA-G called on the government to complete the work of the land Commission of Inquiry launched in 2017 to address historic and complex land holding issues – provide title for undivided communal and crown land; document ownership and provide current titles for individual ownership.

“The proposed bill would exploit vulnerable landowners. The amendment cedes power to a “Minister to make an advance cash payment to an interested and authorized person” to acquire land for public purposes without consultation or opportunity for redress or negotiation. The bill grants inordinate power to a Minister of government and robs citizens of protection of their right to landownership,” the group said.

The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) also called on the Government to put the Acquisition of Land for Public Purpose (Amendment) Bill on pause.

In a statement, the GTUC suggested that the Bill be sent for widespread consultation.

“For in its present form there is dire implication for people’s right to land ownership through natural inheritance…This Bill should be of concern to all those who have the right to claim ancestral land. We must be particularly concerned not only about our African brothers and sisters but our Amerindian brothers and sisters,” the Union said.

“The disregard and disrespect by this regime for the lands owned by specific groups (some more than some), is troubling,” the GTUC said.

The Union called on citizens to be watchful since even legal documentation may be in jeopardy. The Union headed by Lincoln Lewis said that there have been allegations that documents are going missing from the land ledgers, particularly in Berbice and Demerara which have the possibility of denying the bonafide land owners of their rightful inheritance.

The GTUC said that the preservation of the legal documents is important, and “we call on the Government to put in place systems to guarantee the safety and security of all documents pertaining to ownership and distribution of lands in Guyana from date from post-slavery to now.”

Further, the Union said that it sees the Bill, in its present form, as a move by the “Jagdeo/Ali regime to make legitimate a land grab for themselves and their associates.”

“There is no reason to believe when the PPP seized these lands, under the pretext that its actions are legitimate, the lands wouldn’t end up in the hands of private ownership as seen with the Mocha Arcadia situation. There is also the case in the Amerindian communities where outsiders are encouraged to occupy the land, strip it of its resources, and deny the bonafide heirs,” the Trade Union Congress said.

Added to this, the Union called on the Opposition to stand with the people and give leadership in the effort to hold the government accountable for the preservation and management of all legal, court and other documents pertaining to land distribution and ownership, from the time of the arrival of the First Peoples, the purchases of Africans villages, and lands pertaining to the indentured immigrants.

Meanwhile, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC has been pushing back against the calls.

During an interview on NCN’s ‘Parliamentary Agenda’ programme on Monday evening, the AG pointed out that the legislation has colonial roots, having first been enacted in England in 1914.

He explained that the law is based on the principle that the state maintains an ‘eminent domain’ over all lands within its territory.

This means that though titles dictating ownership may be issued to persons within the state, the government can seize private property for public use – such as roads, schools, and hospitals – and provide compensation to the property owner.

“It is a necessary power for developments to take place in any country, and countries all over the world have ensured that within the repertoire of every independent state is this power,” AG Nandlall said.

The attorney general added, “Governments exist to do things for the public good, and if a particular project has been identified for the public good, the principle is that the interest of one or a few must bend and bow to the glory of the public good.”

AG Nandlall explained that the law is very strict in this regard.

“You have to state what the public purpose is, and then you have to ensure that the land is used for that public purpose and not for another use,” he said.

(IDPADA-G, GTUC call for wider consultation on proposed amendment to the Acquisition of Lands for Public Purpose Act)

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• Acquisition of Lands for Public Purpose Act, AG Nandlall, amendments, Consultation, GTUC, IDPADA-G, land grab

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