By Deanna Isaac, Carriacou The cabinet of Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas has approved the establishment of a Carriacou Land Settlement and Development Board, as part of a determined effort to settle land disputes inherited by the National Democratic Congress government after it assumed office in July 2008. The board, constituted under the Carriacou Land Settlement and Development Act, is headed by Forestry Officer Benson Patrice as the Chairman. Agriculture Instructor Norland Cox is Deputy Chairman. The other board members are John McDonald, Agatha Jordan, Ronald Gittens, Selwyn Andrew, Jean Martineau, Bernard Bullen, Curtis McIntosh, Stalin Samerson, Henry Samerson and Dwight Logan. The Land Settlement and Development Act states that there shall be established and constituted a body which shall be entitled to “make contracts and to sue and be sued in its corporate name.’’ The Act also gives the board the authority to “acquire, hold and dispose of all kinds of property, as well as have the power to regulate, control and develop land settlement on the island of Carriacou.’’ The establishment of the board follows the work of a committee appointed by cabinet to review unresolved land issues on the 13-square-mile Sister Island. The Review Committee, led by Queen’s Counsel Henry Bristol, discovered that the lands’ committee for Carriacou was not consulted since 1999. It also revealed that a cabinet conclusion dealing with land distribution had only 293 names. However, a total of 333 persons received letters and of that number, 168 persons had made no application for land. Senator the Hon. George Prime, Minister of Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs, has welcomed the establishment of the Carriacou Land Settlement and Development Board. He says it’s his hope that a “speedy resolution’’ will now be found to the land issue in Carriacou.