Dear Editor,

THE National Toshaos Council meeting concluded recently, and Indigenous village leaders, including myself, participated and made specific recommendations for revision of the Amerindian Act.However, as Toshao of Isseneru Village, I wish to state that I strongly disagree with Ms. Melinda Jankie’s views on what Amerindians should and should not do in relation to mining on their lands. Under the Laws of Guyana, we are obligated, as leaders, to preform our duties without fear or favour in the best interest of our peoples.

Editor, the deliberate interjection of Ms. Jankie’s letter has raised more questions and discontent among Indigenous leaders and communities working towards strengthening land rights in the Amerindian Act. Its main purpose was to dissuade Indigenous leaders by counter-blasting the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs and traduce Indigenous communities and organizations to justify her devious role in the creation of the Amerindian Act.

Editor, Ms. Jankie has placed herself in a questionable position, being one of the crafters of the Amerindian Act. Let’s examine her assertions. In one paragraph of her letter, she stated, “There is no large scale mining taking place in Guyana, but useful for frightening Amerindian communities.”
I wish to remind her that mining activities of small and medium scale are transcendent to large scale mining if left unchecked by the GGMC. Mining concessions held by third parties are exempted and excluded from the title grant, and upheld by the justice system in Guyana because there are no legal mechanisms in the Amerindian Act for titled communities to seek and obtain restitution of their lands held by third parties.

In the same paragraph, she also asserted that “Amerindian communities have a veto, unless the state believes it is in public interest to have large scale mining”. I would like to point out that under Section 50 of the Amerindian Act, Amerindian communities are not guaranteed a solid veto, because the state can override the community’s veto and grant permission to a miner or conglomerate to extract resources from Amerindian-titled lands.

The laws also guarantee that, under the Amerindian Act, the Minister of Amerindian Affairs has arbitrary powers to determine the size of lands that would be issued to Indigenous communities. Common sense would let ordinary people know that Indigenous peoples would be at a disadvantage, because they can make claims to their traditional lands but it all depends on the outcome of the state’s decisions.

In conclusion, the speculations made by Ms. Jankie to discredit others are dismissive and partial, because we all know that the Amerindian Act is nugatory in the court of law. Therefore, I join my fellow colleagues in the National Toshaos Council to confront these challenges by fully endorsing the revision of the Amerindian Act 2006.

Regards,

DHANESS LARSON
Toshao
Isseneru Village.