Well Done GLSC! Land Registration and Regularisation Must be Rights-based

Dear Editor,

I read an article in the Stabroek News on September 22, 2025, and titled ‘GLSC set to initiate land registration at No. 7 Village, WCB’. The article stated that ‘The Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC)… has prepared a Provisional Index Plan No. COS 1635 AND 1655(2) dated on April 2, 2025, of Lot No. 7 or Plantation Willemstad, West Coast Berbice showing its current occupation and proposed division of lots in the area into Land Registration parcels’.

The article further stated that ‘The GLSC says that persons who claim a title in the area or an interest in any land in the area are asked to apply pursuant to section 22 (1) of the Land Registry Act Cap. 5:02 to register an interest or to be registered as the proprietor of that land on the grounds set out in section 22 that they (i) have transport for the land, (ii) have a legal share or interest in the land, (iii) inherited, was gifted or bought the land, (IV) have acquired the land through adverse possession, and or (V) have a lieu on the land by way of mortgage. The application must be made and filled before October 17, 2025, at the Land Registry Office in New Amsterdam’.

I was very pleased to read this article and would like to congratulate the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission for taking this extremely important step in the land registration and land regularization process. Land management and development, more specifically, the approach by government and government agencies to updating land registration, and land regularisation MUST be a rights-based. Land registration and regularization should be linked to the broader government policy on land management and development. It is important that the government develop national land management and development policy and strategy.

This policy should be a part of the government’s poverty reduction policy and strategy. Land registration and regularisation are also key to a national wealth creation programme. While many Guyanese have a right to lands, updating ownership is a major issue. With a rights-based land registration and regularization programme, almost overnight, large numbers of citizens can be taken out of poverty and achieve greater economic independence and stability. The process of land regularisation is costly, complex and complicated, thus with this rights-based intervention from the GLSC, and more broadly the government, will undoubtedly accelerate growth and development in Guyana.

In the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2025 Regional Human Development Report for Latin America and the Caribbean and titled “Under Pressure: Recalibrating the Future of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean” states that Guyana remains as a high development country. The new framework proposed in the report as “Resilient Human Development,” is a good starting point for the government in developing a land management and development policy and strategy where a key component focuses on poverty reduction and wealth creation with a right-based approach. Updating land registration and regularisation in the current Guyana context is a necessary aspect of achieving ‘resilient human development’.

During the recent election campaign, I supported the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) as a part of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition, and land management and development; reviewing and updating the land registration and land regularisation process was one of the key focus areas of my platform and our agenda. As such, I was delighted when I read that GLSC had embarked on this land registration process. I was telling a colleague that this is where you say ‘I raise a hallelujah’ because it is a huge step in the right direction.

However, there is one caution that I would like to make, which is obvious at times or sometimes subtle motives and motivations of the government in land matters. Meaning that the government has developed a reputation for land grabbing and while there may be opportunities under this land registration initiative for the government to acquire unclaimed land, the primary objective of the initiative must be to assist people to regularize their lands, and use land as a pathway to reduce poverty and create wealth not for the elites but for ordinary Guyanese too.

Well Done GLSC! Land registration and regularization must be rights-based. This is a key step in ‘Building Our Dream Guyana’.

Yours truly,
Citizen Audreyanna Thomas
Coordinator
Building Our Dream Guyana Movement