300 families at Leeds Village to benefit as land regularisation begins

300 families of Leeds Village in Region Six (East Berbice – Corentyne) will soon begin the process of getting Certificates of Title for lands they have occupied for decades dating back to the abolition of slavery.

The Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) on Saturday held a land regularisation exercise at Leeds, No.51 Village, in Region Six.

Land surveyors will begin conducting occupational surveys within the next week. This process, which involves verifying land boundaries and resolving any disputes, is expected to take approximately 90 days.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC explained that this is President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s initiative, and is being conducted along the West Coast of Berbice.

“We started with Cotton Tree, and we are going to do numbers One, Two, Three, Four and Five. That is thousands of titles we will be issuing to people who have been in occupation of those lands,” he said.

 “We are doing a similar process at 49 Village, right here on the Corentyne coast. And we are going to conclude that shortly, and that will give that entire village titles for the land that they are occupying. And we are working on one along the East Bank of the Berbice River.”

Outlining the historical process of land registration in Guyana, AG Nandlall said that the Dutch presence introduced a “transport” system for land ownership.

However, this system was seen as burdensome and time-consuming, requiring lengthy legal processes to transfer ownership.

The land registration system was introduced in the early 1960s to eventually take over the transport system and bring the entire country under a more streamlined land titling process.

But the full implementation of the land registration system was delayed and now, over 50 years later, the government is actively working to complete this process in areas like Leeds.

According to the AG, this process is intended to make land ownership and transfers more straightforward, bringing greater security to residents.

He underlined that a Certificate of Title is a stronger and more secure form of legal ownership. It can only be set aside on the ground of fraud, whereas a transport can be extinguished if someone occupies the land for 12-14 years.

A title is a more accepted form of collateral for loans compared to a transport.

“The greatest form of empowerment, other than education, is title to land. That is empowerment. So, anybody can talk all kinds of rhetoric about empowering people. This process is what real empowerment is. Because all of you who have been living on lands for decades, and your ancestors have been living on the land for some time, over 100 years, without a title; at the end of this process, you will get a title, a paper to say that you own this land,” AG Nandlall underscored.

The government is funding this entire process through the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, Attorney General Chambers, and the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

Residents were urged to lend their full cooperation to ensure the surveys and titling process can be completed efficiently.

AG Nandlall was accompanied by Regional Chairman, David Armogan, and Manager of Surveys at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, Rene Duesbury.