'Traditional ownership' land titles case begins
Stabroek News, Wednesday, November 28th 2007
Finally: Witnesses for six Amerindian communities in the Upper Mazaruni
District with Attorney-at-law David James (fifth from left) in the High
Court compound after they had given evidence before Justice Jainarine
Singh yesterday. The communities are seek
The historic Upper Mazaruni land titles case, filed since 1998, began
on Monday in the Supreme Court before Justice Jainarine Singh.
Six Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) Amerindian communities had filed
suit nine years ago, claiming land in the Upper Mazaruni District,
which they say is traditionally theirs.Since then, the communities of
Paruima, Waramadong, Jawalla, Kako, Phillipai and Warawatta have been
awaiting their day in court.
Attorney-at-law David James, a member of the team of lawyers
representing the Amerindian communities, explained yesterday that the
case is the first of its kind in Guyana, in which the indigenous
peoples are asking the court to deal with land rights issues based on
traditional ownership.
James said the land titles granted to the communities in 1991 by the
then administration, did not reflect ownership of their traditional
land, so they had approached the new government formed in 1992 to
correct what they thought was a grave error. Not satisfied with the
outcome of their request to the current government, they then took the
matter to the court in 1998, seeking a legal resolution to the issue.
Evidence was taken on Monday and yesterday, following which, Justice
Singh adjourned the matter to January 23 and 24, 2008.
Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes heads the team of lawyers representing the
Upper Mazaruni communities, which includes Stephen Fraser and James.
Attorney-General Doodnauth Singh, Martina Bacchus and Sunil Scarce are
representing the defendant, who is the Attorney General.
No comments:
Post a Comment