Seek permission first!

Dec 21, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

It is one thing to want to sell your property and it is quite another when forced to sell. If the government needs the land of a private citizen to implement its development plans, then it should be willing to pay a premium for that land in question. It is not the private citizen who is going on the open market trying to get a buyer at a fair price. It is the government going to the citizen trying to get that person to sell. We must all do our part and help in our country’s development, but if it is you who needs what I was not selling then it is you who needs to provide a premium to cover the inconvenience. The market price reflects what it is worth to a willing seller. The market price plus 25% is what it should be worth to an urgent buyer, especially when that buyer is the government and the seller wasn’t looking to sell. Compensate the land owner who is being inconvenienced.

The argument over ancestral lands brings to mind our Indigenous Peoples. We are after all on the land of the Amerindian People. Shouldn’t we first ensure that all of the Amerindian Tribes have what is rightfully theirs? Any land purchase by the State should have the approval of the Amerindian People and they should be compensated accordingly. There have been several emotional moments during the last sitting of Parliament, and mention has been made of what was taken that belonged to the African and the Indian.

However, we must remember and never forget that the Amerindian land is upon which everything has been built. They have never been compensated for what the other five peoples of our land now consider their own. A hundred years of ownership is of no consequence when one considers the thousands of years that the Amerindian has possessed the land before it was forcefully taken from them.

If it is yours and a visitor comes and says that he found it and builds his infrastructure upon it and calls it his, does this change who the rightful owner is? Of course not! We must first make things right by the Amerindian and treat each transaction with respect for the rightful owner. For every land deal an agreed to percentage should go the Amerindian People. Maybe it is that additional 25% that the Amerindian People are due. But first and foremost, an agreement must be made that clearly identifies what may be used and what is owed to the rightful owner.

Those who “discovered” the property of others should be the first to return what is not theirs and subsequently pay for what the owner is interested in selling. How else can it be claimed that the State owns assets? Correct what is wrong so what we build may be built on a solid foundation.

Sincerely,

Mr. Jamil Changlee

Chairman

The Cooperative Republicans of Guyana

(Seek permission first!)

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Amerindian land, Amerindian people, Amerindian Tribes, inconvenienced, land owner

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