The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) yesterday declared its support for the Lands Commission of Inquiry (CoI), charging that 23 years of PPP/C rule had seen the country retrogressing on the “burning issue of land rights and justice”.
Saying that a commission on land issues has been long overdue, the WPA said it hopes that the CoI established by President David Granger will undertake an extensive study of the system and make recommendations that will right the numerous wrongs that have been committed against legitimate land holders and their heirs.
The WPA, which is part of the governing coalition by virtue of its membership of A Partnership for National Unity, said that over the years of its existence it has been very active, primarily through the efforts of Eusi Kwayana, Rupert Roopnaraine and Desmond Trotman in representing the interest of those persons who have been disempowered by unjust laws and land grabbers. It added that the importance that the party places on land issues is evidenced in the fact that in all of the manifestoes it produced or those that it collaborated on, the setting up of a viable land commission has always had a prominent place in the proposals.