…Mabaruma council to pay $75,000 annually for five acres

THE Government of Guyana through the Mabaruma Mayor and Town Council has agreed to lease five acres of lands from the Broomes estate for the establishment of a homestead settlement area or humanitarian centre for registered Venezuelans, who are occupying areas in Barima-Waini (Region One).

The land was owned by the late Dr. Edward Broomes. On Wednesday, Mabaruma Town Clerk Barrington Ward met with Broomes’ nephew Monty Broomes, and agreed that five acres of land would be leased to the Mabaruma Mayor and Town Council under a 99-year lease agreement.

Shortly after the meeting, which took place in Mabaruma, Broomes told the Guyana Chronicle that one acre of land would be leased at the cost of $15,000 per annum. It therefore means that the council would be mandated to pay $75,000 annually for the five acres of land. The agreement is expected to be signed shortly.

The plot of land is located next to the Atabani Creek, and within one mile of the Regional Administration Office, the Mabaruma Regional Hospital, the North-West Secondary School and the Mabaruma Primary School. Broomes told this newspaper that the land is excellent for farming, and once cleared, and the necessary drainage network put in place, construction could commence almost immediately.

According to the Mayor of Mabaruma, Henry Smith, there are approximately 150 Venezuelans living in the town, while a little over 50 of the Spanish-speaking nationals are scattered across other villages within close proximity to the border.

It was last Monday that Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix announced that government in collaboration with the Mabaruma Town Council had identified a plot of land for the establishment of a homestead settlement area for registered Venezuelans.

The announcement was made at the end of the fifth multi-agency coordinating committee meeting held at the Ministry of Citizenship, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
Minister Felix said the resettlement area would allow the Venezuelans to be self-reliant. To complement the work of the Town Council, a Regional Coordinating Sub-committee is being set up to take charge of the situation on the ground, as the agencies on the national committee continue to lend the necessary assistance to those in the region.

Already, the Public Health Ministry has established health posts in the affected areas, including at Mabaruma and Morawhanna and will, by the end of next week, establish one at Imbotero Village from which migrants and residents are being screened and vaccinated, while it is bolstering its presence in Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region Seven). Refrigerators for the storage of vaccines at the locations have already been procured and will be dispatched and set up by the end of next week.

“[The Department of] Immigration is continuing the registration and support work… The police [are] also following through with the support work to this committee. So, all agencies, locally, are locked into this committee to provide services and support for the Venezuelans in Guyana. We are also [examining] the situation in Region Seven [in order] to find out where [the Venezuelans] are and what numbers we have to [cater for],” the Minister of Citizenship said.

Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has committed its support to addressing the migration of Venezuelans and to help boost Guyana’s capacity to deal with such situations in the event of future occurrences.

Currently, the IOM is conducting work in gathering data on the migrants and observed trends through a Displacement Tracking Matrix in Regions One, Two, Four and Seven and has committed to developing Terms of Reference (ToR) for a consultant, who will review the various sectors current policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for dealing with migrants. The consultant will also be tasked with the updating and/or development of these, as well as the guidelines for emergencies, which can guide responses in the future.
The organisation will also be coordinating a capacity-building session in ‘Migrants and Countries in Crisis’ for members of the National Coordinating Committee as early as possible and capacity-building in ‘Camp Coordination’ will be done after the details for the humanitarian centre are finalised. This training will target individuals who will be responsible for managing the centre. Additionally, the Immigration Department has been tasked with providing a list of equipment that is needed and can be procured for migrant registration and issuing of documents, while a Migrant Support Centre will be established in Region One to be housed at the Regional Democratic Council’s office.