For many years, issues of land tenure and regularisation have affected communities across the nation.
To address these challenges, the government has launched a new initiative called the Title and Tenure Issues – Land Forum, which focuses on community engagement and resolving long-standing land issues.
The first forum, hosted by MP for Aranguez/St. Joseph Devesh Maharaj on Wednesday, engaged residents of Bamboo #1 and surrounding communities.
According to Minister Maharaj, the turnout, which included residents traveling from as far as San Fernando to the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Cultural Co-operation in Mt. Hope, highlights the initiative’s importance.
“This meeting was called today to deal specifically with the issue in Bamboo No. 1 in terms of the leases which they had, agricultural leases which expired some 50 years ago, and the residents have been unable to do anything with their lands. They cannot pass it on to their children, they cannot monetise it, they cannot go to the banks with it, and so on. So we took this initiative to regularise those leases and to deal with some very intractable issues that have arisen over the years and which have never been resolved.”
Minister of Land and Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein emphasized that the initiative marks the start of a nationwide effort to regularise citizens’ land holdings and address squatter issues.
“It has been over 10 years that these persons have been suffering. They have been going through a long-standing issue of land ownership and land tenure. We, as a government, led by our Prime Minister Mrs. Kamla Persad Bissessar, are about restoring hope and dignity to our nation, and one of the first places we can start is ensuring that that person has a title document that they can call their own, a piece of land, and a house.”
Speaking to TTT News after the Forum, Minister Hosein confirmed that similar forums will continue across Trinidad and Tobago.
“Several other Members of Parliament have reached out to my office asking for similar type meetings. I can confirm that this exercise will be ongoing in the month of February and, as time permits, will roll out throughout the entire year. We already met late last year with the Chief Secretary in Tobago to sort out some of those matters. Some initiatives have, in fact, been put in place for Tobago.”