WHILE President David Granger is adamant that there were consultations on the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into land issues, the National Toshaos Council (NTC) has objected to the move citing it as a “blatant attempt” in trying to “dispossess” the Indigenous peoples of their lands.

Earlier this month the government announced that the Commission will be tasked with examining and making recommendations to resolve all the issues and uncertainties surrounding the individual, joint or combinable ownership of lands acquired by freed Africans, and claims of Amerindian land titling and other matters relative to land titling.

On Tuesday, the President in response to a statement issued by the NTC on the issue, noted that government had received recommendations.

“I am not sure that that statement is an accurate statement. The proposal to announce a body was announced by me at the National Toshaos Council, I think in August last year”, he said, citing that legal advisor attached to the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs, David James sits on the CoI.

The President said that there “had to be some consultation and the persons who are on the Commission, have been drawn from a wide section of the community.”

He said that the Commission performs two functions; one for indigenous people’s rights and for the rights of Afro-Guyanese. However, the NTC in a release issued on Tuesday, noted that it was never consulted in the formation of the Commission and that it cannot, “with any degree of sanity nor confidence, respect such a body, and will refuse to cooperate with such a body.”

The council viewed the move as an “aberration that needs to be recalled” and has established two separate entities to deal with the issues currently placed under such a blanket. The body expressed concern at what it termed a lack of consultations on the move and one which did not include FPIC (free prior and informed consent).

“This is clearly viewed as a blatant attempt in trying to dispossess the Indigenous Peoples of our lands and we cannot condone such an attempt”, the NTC said.

In a report published earlier in March in this newspaper, Chairman of the Guyana Reparations Committee, Eric Phillips, noted that the committee would provide information to the Government of Guyana (including the Opposition) for their claim of lands for reparatory justice and social cohesion in Guyana. He had noted that there are three historical reasons why this claim has legal validity.

According to the NTC, while the body supports reparations and repatriation of African lands and for the issue to be addressed urgently, the Indigenous lands issue “cannot and should not” be viewed in the same light. It said it cannot be addressed under the same framework.

The NTC explained that the Indigenous Peoples, by Law, are entitled to their Traditional Lands, while the Africans are entitled to lands that were sold to their ancestors. “It is this very separation that needs to be clearly identified and defined,” the body said noting that this should be realised by the authorities.

The NTC said that there are legal grounds in the Amerindian Act of 2006 which speak to a process as regards Amerindian lands. In addition, it noted that under the Amerindian Land Titling Programme informed at great lengths by the Amerindian Act, Guyana’s Constitution, and International Law, there is a robust framework with reference to the subject of Amerindian lands, which was developed by all key stakeholders.