Dear Editor,
I have read the reports of certain executive members and Government obtaining substantial acres of land in Guyana. It is the method by which it was so acquired that caused the alarm.
I do not think anyone ought to quarrel or seek mileage from that ownership save and except that they ought to ensure the unfortunate poor who are also entitled to lands do receive same.
It is generally forgotten that 83,000 square miles of lands, together with 200 miles radius of sea make up the Republic of Guyana.
The ancestors of the Africans dug trenches and made dams with whiplashes penniless and were made into chattels yet none of the Government leaders since independence has seen it fit to give each family 1,000 acres of land for their development but they have to crawl, bribe or beg for a simple house lot in vain.
Guyana has no more than 180,000 families at an average of 5 members per family yet all the regimes of Guyana since Independence cannot bring themselves to give out land lawfully at 1,000 acres to each such family.
I know of a citizen who captured in excess of 170,000 acres of land once owned by LIDCO and enrich himself with the cattle thereon yet owing substantial sums to MMA and Government for arrears of rates and taxes. By divine grace those Leases are now expired.
What sin there is in giving the citizens of this country land to which they should have title and raise money for self-development and make their livelihood for generations to come.
The colonial Government did give large tracts with long leases and Grants thereto.
It is a shame that our own citizens in whose name we pontificate and promise substantial benefits at political meetings by every political party on the hustings yet they become the victims of foreign plunder while continuing to lead poor, destitute wretched lives as the leaders hitherto poor and powerless now falsely in the citizens name ascend to glory and regal splendor whilst these very citizens’ screams and anguish, their supporters, fall on deaf ears.
I ask and plead to correct these unforgivable wrongs by ameliorating the lives of the unfortunate poor and enthusiastic farmers through adequate distribution of substantial acres of land just as the leaders of 60,000 Amerindians continue to enjoy large tracts while descendants of slaves and the indentured are denied the same consideration.
What is our land policy for the Guyanese people? Who should possess and work our fertile lands? Oh citizens please answer.
Yours faithfully,
Jailall T. Kissoon
Attorney-at-Law
