THE residents of Baramita, Region One, yesterday received their long-awaited ‘Land Title’ which gives them exclusive rights to their territory. The land title was handed over by Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Sydney Allicock, to Toshao of the community Trevor Matheson. It was handed over in the presence of Permanent Secretary to the Indigenous People’s Affairs Ministry, Alfred King, Regional Executive Officer of Region One, Leslie Wilburg, Vice-Chairman of Region One Sarah Brown, councillors and residents of the community.

Baramita is home to over 3000 residents who occupy the land with their main economic activity being gold-mining.
Minister Allicock said that the issuing of the land title is “one that is long overdue and I’m happy to have been presenting the document in the presence of the residents.” The minister stated that with the document “there is added responsibility and I hope that everyone follows what we have here, so you would know what you have.”

Toshao Matheson expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs for finally making the document available to the people of Baramita.
Under the Guyana REDD + Investment Fund (GRIF), Government in 2013 had signed a US$10.7M document for the implementation of the Land Titling and Demarcation project. The project came to an end in 2016; however, the ministry requested an extension in the 2017 budget. This resulted in $165M being earmarked for advancing of the remaining identified areas for land-titling.

This project, which is being spearheaded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), seeks to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples and create livelihood opportunities for residents.
By: Isaiah Braithwaite