The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs yesterday called for the leaders of the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) to apologise for criticising the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on lands.
In a statement, the ministry charged that “an insignificant minority of agents” of the NTC have allowed themselves to become instruments of “partisan political purpose.” “Equally unfortunate is the use of the Presidential CoI on lands as a whipping boy on the agenda of a larger political force,” the statement said, while calling on NTC Chairman Joel Fredericks to prove claims that the government was violating the Amerindian Act and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples through the establishment of the CoI.
It added that if Fredericks could not prove his stance with documents or other compelling evidence, then he should immediately withdraw his statement and apologise to President Granger.
On Wednesday, the NTC held a press conference at the FLEGT Facilitator Support Office on New Market Street, where Fredericks said the Council, which represents some 80,000 persons and is made up of 212 leaders, was never consulted or asked for its input on the CoI.
As a result, Fredericks had pointed out that the NTC had felt sidelined and that the government was not adhering to the laws in the Amerindian Act that defines how Amerindian Land Titling issues should be dealt with. The UN Declaration also states that “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous Peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.”
NTC Vice-Chairman Lenox Shuman had also expressed his concerns over the government’s decision to pair indigenous land rights issues with the claims of freed Africans. He had explained that the Council was of the opinion that the two issues were drastically different, since having something passed down for generations and buying something were not the same.
However, the ministry yesterday said that “utterances” by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman were misleading and it condemned their statements as seeking to divide the nation along ethnic or other lines.
“The Government of Guyana has made it clear that, national unity is pivotal to nation building. It is for this reason that His Excellency the President has sought, through the COI, to address the issue of lands in a holistic way. It is appalling, therefore, that there are still among us, individuals who will continue to seek out opportunities to foster disunity,” the release pointed out.
It added that even though Shuman had stated the NTC was not politically-aligned, he issued “threats” to the administration and intimated plans to seek sanctions against government by international organisations in a “vulgar, self-serving, political and narrow minded” posture.
Predicting that the NTC’s position might have been interpreted as a political move in some quarters, Shuman rose to the floor on Wednesday to clear all doubts and explained that the NTC was not politically aligned and, “will never be politically aligned, not under this current council.” However, he said, the NTC would not rebuff any party that aims to align themselves with the indigenous peoples’ goals.
“If this administration chooses not to align itself with indigenous peoples’ goals, then I am sure they will feel the effect in 2020. And if the opposition chooses not to align themselves with the indigenous peoples’ goals then they will feel it eventually,” Shuman had said.
He had also raised the point that even though the NTC had made their position on the CoI known several weeks ago, no response was received from the government.
The ministry yesterday said that the NTC and Toshaos have “unfettered access to all Government ministers, particularly the two ministers of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs.”
It added that the access has been used to good effect since the current administration came into power and it questioned whether the NTC’s statements were sincere.
“The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs shares an excellent relationship with the indigenous peoples and leaders of the indigenous peoples of Guyana, particularly Toshaos and the Executive of the NTC,” the statement said.
However, Fredericks had also stated that he has since traveled and visited many of the villages where the majority of persons support the NTC’s position and are collectively calling for the decision on the CoI to be rescinded.
The CoI, appointed by President Granger in March, is tasked with examining and making recommendations to resolve all the issues and uncertainties surrounding the individual, joint or communal ownership of land acquired by freed Africans; claims of Amerindian land titling; and other matters relative to land titling.
The commission is being chaired by Reverend George Chuck-a-Sang. In a brief address at the swearing in of the commission in March, Granger explained that the CoI is meant to settle all controversies originating from disagreement over ownership of land, so as to satisfy all of the citizens of this country “that we need not fight each other for land; that we will investigate their claims and we will respond to their just demands.”
