Georgetown: Amerindians were urged to apply for various concessions within the boundaries of their titled land by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, during an interactive session at the National Toshaos Council (NTC) meeting recently at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
The Legal Affairs Minister reminded NTC stakeholders that despite special consideration given to them, the Amerindian Act dictates that whilst they are entitled to the surface rights of the land, the sub-surface resources still belong to the state, which has the authority to sign concessionary agreements permitting others access to that resource.
The Minister said that the refusal to understand this ‘fundamental truth’ is the principal basis for many of the conflicts between mining concessionaires and the titled holders of Amerindian lands.
“The important point that you must understand is that when you own a piece of land and you have title for it you do not own the minerals which lie beneath that land, that applies to every single Guyanese, that is not confined to Amerindians,” he told the gathering.
He said that is not a principle that is confined to the laws of Guyana but it is the law everywhere.
The Legal Affairs Minister also called on the NTC stakeholders to understand that their call to get around this ‘truth’ by amending the Amerindian Act to solve the problem is not valid since the Act is guided by the Constitution which enshrines the rights of all Guyanese.
“I hear people’s call for the amendment of this Act, to solve that problem; this Act cannot be amended to solve that problem. The Constitution of this country is the supreme law and anything, any law that conflicts with the constitution will be declared by a court to be null and void,” he said.
The Legal Affairs Minister explained that the constitution protects the rights of citizens, that is, their property right, and a miner once he has a mining concession, has a proprietary interest.
Minister Nandlall told the NTC that once the Amerindian villages deny that miner access to this interest, either by amending the Amerindian Act or by passing some other law or by physical actions, then they are in fact denying him his constitutional right.
He explained that this denial of the miner’s constitutional right is the reason that miners are able to go to court, with such frequency and be successful against the Amerindian villages.
“There is not much that one can do with the Amerindian Act to deal with that situation, because no parliament will pass a law that defeats the proprietary interest of other people. Neither will they pass a law that would deny the state of Guyana they ability to use natural resources that are the state’s property,” Minister Nandlall stated.
During the exercise, the Legal Affairs Minister also undertook to have Amerindian land dispute cases pending to be brought up more frequently in court.
He also endorsed the NTC stakeholders’ call for a workshop for the Toshaos dedicated solely to creating greater understanding of Amerindian Act.
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