Presenters at the IDPADA-G conference highlighted the dire situation facing African Guyanese land owners. They spoke of the relentless attack on lands owned by African villagers by the government. Speakers reported that the government’s actions have targeted prime lands in places like Mocha, causing great distress to families who have been disadvantaged, dispossessed and left without any say in land management.
Villages established with undivided lands were given management committees to oversee them. Over the years, the government took over undivided lands and began extracting taxes and making land management decisions without consultation or consent of the villagers, which essentially undermined the African village concept of communal ownership and management of land.
The government’s actions violate the rights of the people who live in these villages and must be urgently addressed. Vincent Alexander added that, ” there is a stark difference in the way for example prescriptive rights are handled when lands are private versus state-owned. The law states that you cannot trespass on state lands and get prescriptive rights after 21 years, but on private lands, you can get prescriptive rights after only 12 years. The impact of these institutional arrangements has been felt most acutely by people of African descent.”
It was stated that former President Granger introduced measures to help villages regain control of their lands, but the consensus was that more needed to be done to resolve this ongoing issue. One solution proposed is seeking a judicial interpretation of undivided private lands to clarify ownership and management. Another solution is conducting a pilot project to determine the extent of lands purchased and who owns them. It is essential to identify the location of the lands, their acquisition history, and who currently occupies them to address any injustices or illegalities. However, the PPP government has no motivation to help African villagers to improve local land organization and management, so it will have to be up to the villagers themselves to work together to improve land management in their communities.
The government’s historical actions and recent push to acquire African lands in places like Mocha have had severe consequences for African villages, and it is vital to address this issue urgently. Many villages have lost control of their lands to outsiders, and minority groups now control many neighborhood Democratic Council, which affects how the land is used and managed. The recent BV case is a prime example of the PPP representative on the village council advising the council that the Attorney General stated that the 140 acres intended for John Fernandes Limited, could be sold. Whether this was true or not, the courts disagreed.
The assault on African land ownership undermines the traditional communal ownership and management of land by African villages, which has been a crucial aspect of their culture and identity for more than 100 years. Recognizing the rights of the people who live in these villages to manage their lands and working with them to ensure they have the resources and support needed is critical. Such an investment will help to maintain their way of life and contribute to the economic development of their villages and the country. The people will have to organize across Guyana to insist on legal changes to achieve this, but it is a necessary step to achieve justice and recognition for those who have suffered injustice for too long.
