Eight Amerindian villages receive titles to land

– five more pending

Georgetown, GINA, August 9, 2012

Eight Amerindian villages received their land titles today, reducing to five the number of villages pending as the government fulfills its mandate through the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs of completing the titling of all 120 Amerindian villages in Guyana.

President Donald Ramotar performed the duty of handing over certificates to the respective Toshaos on day four of the National Toshao Council (NTC) meeting at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC).

The villages are Kato, Kariabo, Batavia, Kambaru, Tasarene, Kangaruma, Rupunau and River’s View.
Titling is a grant to the community/village that follows a series of dialogue at the village/community level where consensus is arrived relating to the parameters of interest that are to be plotted.

President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai with the eight Toshaos who received their land title certificates

The hand plotted boundaries are submitted for application in a diagram format accompanied by a letter, stating the name of the community, population and a description of the area based on natural boundaries.

Ratification from a two-thirds majority of those attending the village meetings is a prerequisite submission, according to Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai who witnessed the hand over. Titling precedes the demarcation process.
The application is also accompanied by an authorisation for the village council to make the submission the Minister of Amerindian Affairs.

The land titling process could have been accelerated had the government anticipated the delays in the disbursement of the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) which is being managed by the World Bank.

“The two years or more we have waited for funds from GRIF sometimes of course we cannot wait forever so we have had to utilise some funds to get this moving forward,” Minister Sukhai said.

The process was also hindered when the opposition political parties by a one seat majority rejected the $18.7M which the government had earmarked from the anticipated forest carbon funds for Amerindian communities’ development.

President Donald Ramotar handing over a land title certificate to Toshao of Rupunau Daniel Aguilar

“The committed position of this government is to complete the titling of Amerindian villages for the application submitted,” Minister Sukhai said as she assured the remaining five villages of government’s commitment to granting their land titles.

President Ramotar at the opening ceremony of the NTC announced that another pact with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in September will see the implementation and completion in three years, land titling and demarcation of villages that have submitted applications.

Villages that have been approved for demarcation and the processing of 41 applications for extension of lands will also be covered through a committed sum $1.5B.
To date 104 Amerindian communities are titled.