For another year, the opening of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference was dominated by concerns about land rights, with Chairman Joel Fredericks yesterday calling out the APNU+AFC government for making decisions that affect land ownership without first seeking the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of affected Indigenous groups.
“We have seen townships named with Indigenous lands being placed in townships, such as Lethem, Bartica, Mabaruma and the soon to become township of Mahdia… all of these without the Indigenous participation through FPIC. This is troubling and needs [a] redress mechanism,” Fredericks noted in his presentation.