THE indigenous Amerindians were at one time stereotyped as inferior and lacking intelligence.
Today, however, that negative view of Amerindians has changed and is still changing even though there are a few who hold on to that stereotype.
Amerindians have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that they can match any other group of Guyanese in academia and other fields, if they are given the opportunity to develop themselves.
The current government, from its inception, recognised the injustices that the Amerindians faced for centuries and immediately set to work to correct the situation by placing special emphasis on Amerindian development.
One of the first moves in this direction was the establishment of a Ministry of Amerindian Affairs by the late President Dr. Cheddi Jagan to focus on solutions to Amerindian problems and to help create a level playing field so that they could access opportunities like other groups of Guyanese on the coastland.
There has since been steady development in Amerindian communities and this is highly visible as many today have electricity from solar generation, potable water supply, health centres, schools, transportation facilities and other services that previously never existed.
Many Amerindian communities are also getting into commercial activities such as agriculture. Only recently, history was made with some 10,000 acres of rice being harvested at Lethem.
And they are to benefit from US$8M for development projects from the Norwegian fund established with Guyana for this country’s climate change services.
At the opening of the ongoing National Tosahos Council meeting at the Guyana International Conference Centre, President Bharrat Jagdeo said Monday that although he has not asked any Amerindian community to opt into the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), he has still allocated the sum for their development.
“If they opt in, that will be additional, but they are not required to”, the President explained.
He added that US$4 million will be for the demarcation of Amerindian lands and a similar amount of money will be used for providing households in the Amerindian communities with solar panels.
“Every Amerindian house will have a solar panel,” the President declared.
It is evident that the government’s commitment to sustained Amerindian development is guaranteed and will be continuous.
Certainly, there are still many problems and challenges facing Amerindians, but it would be most impractical and unreasonable for one to expect that the gamut of problems this government inherited could be wiped out in a relatively short time.
But for anyone to deny that the lives of Amerindians have improved tremendously is tantamount to denying that the oceans have water.