125 Cotton Tree residents receive formal titles to ancestral lands

Decades of anticipation finally came to an end for 125 residents of Cotton Tree on the West Coast of Berbice (WCB), after they received formal titles to lands on which they and their ancestors have lived for years.

The certificates of title were presented to the residents by President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Attorney General Anil Nandlall at a handing-over ceremony on Friday in Rosignol, Region Five.

President Ali told residents that helping every Guyanese family build assets is key to ensuring stability and ending poverty. This means broadening ownership, boosting the value of people’s assets, investing in technology and infrastructure, and building a system that encourages productivity and value.

He emphasised that families need assets to escape poverty, households require ownership to build security, and nations cannot prosper if people lack ownership.

“That is why our government’s vision has been clear: to help the Guyanese people build wealth, not just survive. Our strategy focuses on creating economic opportunities so people can earn more,” the president said.

Addressing the 125 families receiving titles, the head of state said the land documents are both a gift and a responsibility, and they should not be seen as an end, but as the beginning of a process that will create pathways to prosperity for generations to come.

He urged the beneficiaries to make careful decisions. “Ask yourself, what will I build here? What future will this land support? What legacy will I leave behind? Because one day, your children and grandchildren will stand where you stand today, and they’ll ask, what did you do with what you were given? Let the answer be we built, we cultivated, we invested, we moved forward,” he said, stressing that nations rise when citizens thrive.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Anil Nandlall recalled years of turmoil experienced by families living in Cotton Tree who were unable to sell their lands or pass them on to their children.

The process, he also said, began in 2011 under the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration but was halted between 2015 and 2020. Fast forward to 2026, and they now have legal documents for their lands.

“This achievement is significant. It changes the future of generations to come, and our government undertook this exercise free of cost. The government bore all the costs of this exercise,” the minister said.

Once Cotton Tree’s regularization process is finished, it will be extended to Egerton, Williamstown, Zeelugt, Mounchoisi, and “we will get back to you to share those titles,” Nandlall added.

Education Minister and MP for Region Five, Sonia Parag, also spoke to the beneficiaries, stating that the distribution is tied to governance continuity and long-term planning. She credited President Ali for starting the process in 2011 when he was the housing minister and seeing it to completion.

Also in attendance were the Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Enrique Monize, and the Regional Chairman, Recardo Phillips.

This is the second regularization exercise to be held in the Cotton Tree area. In 2024, more than 180 residents received formal documents for their lands, underscoring the government’s commitment to empowering families through land ownership.

The government’s national land regularization program is spearheaded by the Ministry of Legal Affairs, in conjunction with the Office of the President and the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC).