Hosein: Ministry working to resolve land title in Tobago

Minister of Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein and Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assemby Farley Augustine at the Hochoy Charles Administrative Complex, Calder Hall, on August 22. -

MINISTER of Legal Affairs and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, Saddam Hosein, says the government is moving swiftly to address the long-standing issue of land title in Tobago.

Hosein and a ministerial delegation met with Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and other THA officials at the Hochoy Charles Administrative Complex, Calder Hall, on August 22, to discuss the issue, which has been a sore topic on the island for decades.

The minister told Newsday that he and Augustine have agreed on a system to fast-track the process.

“At this point in time, being the Minister of Legal Affairs and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, we have identified several long-standing issues affecting title in Tobago,” he said.

“After the meeting, there are some actionable items that both myself and the Chief Secretary would have agreed upon in terms of ensuring that we can have a process where we can have an expedited system of ensuring that people who made applications for their lands to be regularised in terms of the RPO system, we are going to put things such as resources and processes in place to ensure that these matters are dealt with in a timely manner.”

Hosein said as minister, “This is one of the first projects that I also want to treat with as a matter of urgency simply because it’s about time.”

He added, “There has been too much talk. There has been a lot of identification of issues in the past. Now, it’s only about solutions and actions.”

Hosein said the ministry had delivered 200 leases for ex-Caroni workers in the government’s first 100 days in office.

“This was a 23-year-old issue, and I am confident that we can do this in Tobago to ensure that we bring some relief to persons. Once they have their business in order, we will be able, on our end, as a government, to bring that level of comfort and security so that they can finally have title in their hands.”

Asked if, given his understanding of the issue, there were matters the former PNM administration could have addressed during its tenure, Hosein said, “Land is always a complex matter. So you have to be very deliberate and you have to be very careful when doing any type of regularisation because it’s a valuable asset and there must be certainty of title.”

He said during the meeting, there was a presentation from the Registrar General’s Office that dealt with some of the matters in terms of regularisation and bringing lands under the RPO system.

“I also had with me the Director of Surveys, who was able to bring some statistics and show some technical information that we, as custodians of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, will attempt to further expedite the system.”

Hosein said the Registrar General’s Office, the Director of Surveys Office, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, are all working together.

“We are seeing a level of collaboration like never before with the public service to ensure delivery to people in Trinidad and Tobago.”

The Office of the Chief Secretary also posted excerpts of Hosein’s post-meeting interview on social media.

In the video, he said, “I feel very optimistic with the discussion with the Chief Secretary and the technical officers of the Tobago House of Assembly. This is actually one of those meetings that we believe we will get the issue of land tenure in Tobago addressed for a very long time.”

Hosein said the discussions revolved around process, public education, and resources.

“We feel very hopeful, myself and the Chief with respect to getting this done and addressing this very longstanding issue.”

At the meeting, the minister and Augustine also discussed the absence of an Assistant Registrar General in Tobago.

Hosein, in the video, said the position will soon be filled.

“That position has been, in fact, vacant for some time. We have had discussions with the Registrar General’s Department, and very soon we will have someone filling a very senior position within that department in order again for service delivery to the good people of Tobago.”

He said his ministry has already addressed several issues with respect to the Registrar General’s office.

“Several commendations came in because of the service delivery now, where persons can get certified copies of deeds done within a day. You can register deaths and births on the same day and be issued with the birth certificates and death certificates.

“So those are some of the service deliveries that we have done as the Ministry of Legal Affairs, and we have so much work to get done again.”