– to enhance quality of life in Amerindian communities

HEAD of State President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday underscored the importance of transforming each Amerindian community to enhance the livelihood of its people.

He was speaking at the opening of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Meeting at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara which runs until Thursday.

President Bharrat Jagdeo flanked by proud representatives of the various Amerindian communities posing with their land titles. (Cullen Bess-Nelson photos)

The President said he hopes to form new partnerships with the new leaders of the Amerindian communities, noting that over the years, the administration has been working assiduously to develop and build the relationship between the state and indigenous leaders.

He said the gathering is unique, stating, “It is unique in the sense that I do not think that any other country in the whole world has ever assembled all of its elected leaders from the indigenous communities, all of them in one room, to discuss affairs pertaining to their development.”

The Head of State insisted that “it shows that we have a strong democracy not only at the national level, but at the local level, and in our indigenous community.”

“So by saying that, I hope I am sending a strong message to the international community that when they deal with Amerindians and Amerindian affairs in Guyana, they have to deal with the elected leaders of these communities, because they are chosen by their people to represent them,” he exhorted.

He went on, “Too often the international community engages with organisations that purport to represent Amerindian people.”

He said that is fine, since the organisations have a right to exist; but “the real leaders of the community are you, the people who are sitting here, you have been chosen by your people to administer their affairs and there could be no development without consulting you.”

A section of the gathering at the opening of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Meeting at the Guyana International Conference Centre yesterday.

President Jagdeo also noted that over the past five years, there have been three National Toshaos conferences where leaders from indigenous communities have a chance to interact with the various representatives of the State, including himself, Prime Minister and Ministers, and also the security forces.

“How many countries in the world can boast that sort of interaction between the national leadership and the indigenous communities; I would say very few, if any,” he stated.

He assured that the People’s Progressive Party has committed itself to this approach in dealing with indigenous brothers and sisters, reiterating, “It flows out of the very nature of our party; and it will always guide the governmental action on our part”.

“I am very pleased that you are here; because over the next few days, we hope we can sit with you, dialogue with you, and share with you where our country is going. Where your country is going,” he outlined.

The Head of State insisted that leaders need to understand what is happening in the rest of the world, because “our prosperity can only take place as a country within a global context”; and what happens globally can affect Guyana.

“I hope that you spend some time on seeing the challenges that we face at the policy-making level, because it will give you a better perspective of the difficulties in managing small developing countries; but also it will cause a greater appreciation of how significant the progress has been in Guyana particularly in our indigenous communities,” he expressed.

Turning to the current global financial crisis, President Jagdeo noted, “The crisis today has led to tens of millions of people losing their jobs and losing their homes internationally.”

“It has led to a reduction in demand for many of the things we export; so prices have fallen and we are trying at the national level to ensure as far as possible that the effect of these global problems do not impact too negatively on our people,” he reassured.

Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett (who was the former Amerindian Affairs Minister) with Amerindian leaders yesterday.

However, he stressed that in spite of the crisis, this year’s budget is bigger than last year’s, with more money dedicated to the development of health and education and Amerindian development.

President Jagdeo reminded that when the administration assumed office, very little attention was being paid to Amerindian development.

Agreeing that there is still improvements to be made, he stated, “There is this strong commitment on our part, because we feel that all of our people are equal, not just by a constitutional declaration, but by action on the part of the government.”

He said the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was set up and there was the establishment of an Amerindian development fund.

“This neglect of the hinterland and Amerindian communities, we are trying to overcome it day after day; and I promise you that in our government, we will continue to allocate more and more resources to ensure that we can wipe out some of these differences that exist,” he committed.

“We have been giving more and more titles to these lands…we have championed the cause of ensuring that all of our people have titles to their land, that their lands are properly demarcated and that we will give them extension to their lands,” he insisted.

“The problem we have is that some of the communities are yet to be demarcated, and it costs sometimes $30M to $40M just to do one; so I was hoping that maybe we can accelerate the demarcation process if we were to secure funds through the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS),” he proposed.

He also noted that representation of the Amerindian community is important stating, “It will be important as you move forward and try to lead your community; you have to lead your community on the basis of what is best for the people in those communities.”

“I urge you to be as frank as you want, raise any issues you want, however contentious it is, but don’t be led by someone else’s agenda,” the President encouraged.

“I hope that we can work with you to transform every village…we need to change the life at the level of the village,” the President stated.

He said each community must have food security, and find some activity in the village economy that is sustainable to provide jobs and opportunities for persons in the villages.

“The reasons we have not done well in this regard is because a lot of our Amerindian communities are agricultural communities, and most often, they produce things that are perishable,” he noted.

He said this can change, by examining each village and seeing what activity can be stimulated and be sustainable in the long run.

Alluding to the sustainable livelihood programme, he said some $75M has been set aside to look at several communities.

He also alluded to the Presidential Grant programme which started some ten years ago, stating that the government will be working with the villages to ensure that this happens.

Turning to the LCDS, on which he will be making a presentation on Thursday, he said, “Many of the communities have already been invited to information, dissemination and consultation exercises, and you have an idea at least of what we are trying to do.”

President Jagdeo also handed over eleven titles to ten communities which include Chinese Landing, Muritaro, Great Falls-58 Miles, Malali, Nappi, St. Ignatius (Homesteads), St. Ignatius (Farmlands), Tobago and Wauna Hill, Karau, Kwabanna and Waikrebi.