Hosein: Land Settlement Agency politicised under PNM

News Clint Chan Tack 13 Hrs Ago

Some of the 103 recipients of certificates of comfort from the Land Settlement Agency (LSA) with Minister of Legal Affairs and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries Saddam Hosein (centre left) and Minister of Public Utilities and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Barry Padarath (centre right), at the distribution ceremony held at the Chaguanas Borough Corporations Auditorium on November 13. - Photo by Innis Francis

LAND and Legal Affairs Minister Saddam Hosein claims the former PNM administration politicised the Land Settlement Agency (LSA), causing a delay in squatters receiving statutory leases which could help them to get tenure on lands they occupy.

Hosein gave the assurance that government is working to remedy this situation.

He made this statement during an LSA ceremony to distribute certificates of comfort (CoCs) to 103 eligible applicants at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation auditorium on November 13.

A CoC is an official document issued under the State Land (Regularisation of Tenure) Act which grants qualified occupants of State lands protection from removal from the land they occupy. This document also recognises them as eligible for further steps toward obtaining legal title to the land.

Hosein said this was the first step of a three-phase process which squatters can use to get tenure. He added the second step was the receipt of a statutory lease, which gives the applicant a period of 30 years within which to make payments towards obtaining a deed of tenure for the lands they occupy.

Hosein claimed after the UNC won the April 28 general election, it discovered there was a delay at the LSA in delivering statutory leases to applicants who previously received CoCs.

"I have no fear to say the LSA was used as a political football and was subject to political abuse."

He said the UNC will bring the LSA back to its moorings to ensure it takes care of the most vulnerable in society

Hosein added one of the reasons why his ministry was created was to ensure that documents such as statutory leases could be given to eligible people within a matter of weeks instead of years.

He repeated this was in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision to ensure people are cared for from the bottom to the top.