FIFTY-THREE families who purchased lands from the Sugar Welfare Fund over 20 years ago are yet to receive their Certificate of Title, simply because the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) could not source a Certificate of Compliance from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) since it owes them millions of dollars.
GuySuCo also owes millions of dollars in rates and taxes to the Enterprise, East Coast Demerara Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and so they are unable to receive a compliance from the authorities there as well. As a result, GuySuCo could not transfer the lands to the Sugar Welfare Fund and so, the families could not be granted a Certificate of Title.
This was brought to the attention of President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, during a recent outreach to the East Coast Demerara corridor; as a result, the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, was tasked with bringing relief to these families.
During a meeting with the 53 families on Saturday at the Enterprise Community CentrE Ground, the AG explained: “GuySuCo could not pass the lands to Sugar Welfare Fund because GuySuCo owes a lot of taxes to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and could not obtain a certificate of compliance, as well as GuySuCo could not have obtained a certificate of compliance from the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in the area because of rates and taxes owed.”
The AG then sought the intervention of the Commissioner-General of GRA, Godfrey Statia, who has the authority to grant a “limited Certificate of Compliance” to GuySuCo for the purpose of passing the plot of land to the Sugar Welfare Fund. According to Nandlall, Statia has agreed to do so.
As such, the AG is now working to have the NDC agree to the same compromise, which will in turn, allow for the Registrar of Deeds to pass the transport of the lands over to the Sugar Welfare Fund.
The Attorney-General explained that over the years, the absence of a title acted as a major impediment to the residents who purchased the lands.
“They cannot go to the bank for a mortgage, they cannot pass the property on to their children, they cannot deal with the property because there is no title,” Nandlall lamented.
“A title to a man who has a land is very important thing, so the families are very happy this ordeal has finally come to an end,” he added. It is expected that the families would receive their Certificates of Title within two to three months.
During the meeting, Nandlall was accompanied by representatives from GuySuCo, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, the Sugar Welfare Fund and the Registrar of Deeds.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the AG met with a number of persons at Annandale, ECD, during his weekly outreach, where he addressed a plethora of issues relating to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). At this meeting, he was accompanied by the NIS General Manager, Holly Greaves and other representatives from NIS.
Residents raised concerns pertaining to missing NIS contributions; their NIS pension and other benefits offered by the scheme. Nandlall hailed the outreach as successful, as the team was able to address concerns of over 100 persons.
“Hopefully, we can replicate this countrywide because anywhere you go in this country, you meet persons with complaints of NIS or of an NIS nature. So, it is a countrywide national problem and we are beginning to address it,” he said.
