A marathon debate on the PPP/C motion for the revocation of the controversial presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into lands ended last night with the government members voting it down.
The mover of the motion, former PPP/C Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai, and Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock spoke on the motion last month before the parliamentary sitting was adjourned. The PPP/C has called for the rescinding of the CoI and the National Toshaos Council (NTC) has also voiced opposition to it as it doesn’t want Amerindian land title issues commingled with those of the descendants of freed African slaves.
Making his presentation yesterday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said that the calls for the CoI’s revocation are an injustice to the persons whose concerns the Commission was mandated to investigate.
“The debate so far has been about Amerindian land titling and nothing else and therefore if we seek to revoke the entire commission of inquiry we would be doing an injustice to those persons who the commission of inquiry was mandated to examine their claims but was not represented in this National Assembly,” Harmon said.
He said that President David Granger had thought it best to invite the Indigenous People’s Organizations to a meeting on Wednesday to resolve the issues that surround the Commission of Inquiry as it affects the Amerindian land titling issues.
“Unfortunately at the time of the meeting, his Excellency met with the Amerindian Peoples’ Association (APA),” he said, while adding that all of the issues that are being “championed” by all of the Amerindian organizations were addressed and “therefore whether his Excellency met with one, two or three, the issues that were championed were issues which were addressed.” The NTC has complained that it wasn’t invited to this meeting.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of the Presidency announced that Granger had met with the APA and outlined a five-prong plan to ease the row over the lands CoI.
Granger’s plan would, among other things, defer consideration of any matters pertaining to Amerindians until outstanding concerns are settled.
Harmon yesterday alluded to Granger’s decision on Wednesday to set up a special committee to address the concerns that were raised by the NTC, who said that they were not consulted on the CoI.
Most of the Opposition Members of Parliament yesterday highlighted that the consultation with the other Amerindian groups only happened after the CoI was formed, which they said was unfair.
Full and effective
PPP/C MP Yvonne Pearson condemned the Government’s move to have the Commission set up without “full and effective participation of the Indigenous People”, which she said was considered as an insult since the NTC, which is the legal representative of the Indigenous People, has a right to share information to their constituents.
She also said that there is a need for an apology to the NTC and argued that since the Indigenous People’s land titling issues were always done separately then there is no need to have them dealt with in the CoI that is now tasked by Granger with addressing the land issues of the descendants of the freed slaves.
Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott, pointed out in his presentation that prior consultation was not “absolutely necessary” and that Granger did “far more than he was constitutionally bound to do.”
At last month’s parliamentary sitting when debate on the motion began, Minister Allicock said the PPP/C’s view on it helps to cement the party’s position in the opposition beyond 2020. He said the CoI’s terms of reference do not even have a veiled suggestion of a disposal of Amerindian land titles and he called on the opposition to prove the assertion or apologise to the indigenous people and withdraw the motion.
Further, according to him, Amerindians’ access to lands and titles preceded the Amerindian Act and the NTC had stoutly represented that the Act failed to address the indigenous land issues and the question of rights.
For her part, former Minister of Amerindian Affairs Sukhai had last month questioned if the Indigenous people had not requested a review of the land allocation process, why was it being pushed down their throats. “Why are we expressing repressive behaviour, as a government, against the Indigenous people?” she questioned.
Referring to herself as an Indigenous person, Sukhai said they are so empowered “we know where it pinches” and “we know our contributions to this country” as well as the challenges and the disadvantages.
She said the leaders and the people would be loud in their objections on matters that threatened their existence. She said the PPP/C will throw its support behind the NTC on the matter of their objections against it.
Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman, Minister within the Ministry of Communities Dawn Hastings, Minister of Social Cohesion George Norton, Opposition Members of Parliament, Allister Charlie, Dr Frank Anthony, Anil Nandlall, and Nigel Dharamlall also made presentations.
The motion was then put to a vote where it was voted down by acclamation.
Last month, the NTC, which represents some 80,000 persons and is made up of 212 leaders, said it was never consulted or asked for its input on the CoI.
As a result, NTC Head, Joel 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.
NTC Vice Chair Lennox 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 said 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.
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 members 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.”
