A NEWLY appointed Chief Lands Officer for the Western Regional Lands Office, Frazer Sike, has been urged to deal with the outstanding land issues concerning Western Province’s Gizo Island, the host of the province’s capital.
Premier of Western Province, Billy Veo, highlighted this during a courtesy call by Mr Sike to his office on Wednesday.
Mr Sike was appointed after the vacant position was advertised. He arrived in Gizo last weekend.
In his first official visit to the Premier’s Office, he was briefed by the premier on the many outstanding land issues within the township and the surrounding communities.
Premier Veo said there is a lot of work to do in addressing land matters in Gizo due to an increasing population, including squatters.
He said many people in Gizo have settled there for many years but are illegal stayers because the land they settled were never registered.
Premier Veo said people have settled on Gizo Island long before the establishment of the provincial township there and because of that many of them claim Gizo as their homeland.
“Many people have been living here in Gizo for years without getting any formal [land]agreement.”
Because of that, the Premier told Mr Sike of the need for him to come up with a programme to start addressing the outstanding land issues.
“And we need to address this matter so that people can get their land registered and people do not continue to live illegally,” Premier Veo added.
Premier Veo discouraged the idea of chasing out people from the land they live because some of them have long settled on the land.
He then referred to a former Western Province premier who had offered a land to a group of people in Gizo who are now facing eviction from the land.
“So, you must address the problem accordingly,” Premier Veo told Mr Sike
Premier Veo also highlighted that registration of all land must proceed so that any development that communities intend to undertake is legal.
Mr Sike, in turn, assured Premier Veo that work on land sub-division will commence soon.
Once all the sub-divisions are done then those who are living on land that they do not have titles over will need to apply and register the land under their names.
Most of the land in Gizo are owned by the Commissioner of Lands and Western Provincial Government.
By MOFFAT MAMU
