ONCE again the mischievous and irresponsible Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) is tying to mislead the national and international communities by the spewing of absolute trash substantiated by a lack of specifics in relation to Amerindian land issues, mining, logging and Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). At the APA’s assembly, no doubt funded by foreign taxpayers’ money, it was reported by the Stabroek News (SN Sat, 7th, May 2011) that “Land rights take centre stage – 66 communities say consultations on LCDS inadequate.”
Mr. Editor, kindly allow me to raise the following points to prove to the world that the APA is a dishonest and perverse Amerindian organisation not committed to the economic empowerment of Guyana’s indigenous peoples whom they claim to represent.
1. It is said that the devil finds work for idle hands. The APA is fully aware that the Government of Guyana is fully committed to the land rights of Guyana’s indigenous peoples and is presently making serious efforts to grant land titles to the 11 remaining Amerindian communities including land demarcations and land extensions through the Guyana Redd + Investment Fund (GRIF). So far there are 96 titled Amerindian settlements and as soon as they reach the criteria for titles according to the provisions of the Amerindian Act 2006 they will become titled villages. Six Amerindian communities of the upper Mazaruni, while they have their respective land titles took the government to court for additional lands on the advice of the APA. The government is therefore unable to deal with the land issues of the upper Mazaruni communities because the matter is engaging the attention of the court. Amerindians comprise nine per cent of the national population and have legal ownership of 14 per cent of Guyana’s national territory. With the completion of Amerindian Land Titles, Amerindians would eventually own about 25 per cent of Guyana’s land space.
2. In relation to mining, Section 48 of the Amerindian Act gives Amerindian village residents the power to either grant or refuse permission to a miner who wants to conduct mining activities on village lands. So what is the point the APA is making about mining activities on Amerindian lands? The Chinese Landing village Toshao in the Barama River, Region Number One, proudly indicated to me that his village residents stopped a coastland miner from conducting mining on their village lands. This means that the Chinese Landing residents have successfully applied the Amerindian Act. I am aware that a situation exists in Isseneru Village, where a coastland miner took legal action against the Village Council to continue his mining activities despite permission was not granted to him by Isseneru Village residents. The matter is presently in the High Court and the Isseneru Village Council is determined to win the case. The situation in Arau Village is that both Amerindians and non-Amerindians are engaged in mining activities on a portion of land claimed by the Arau Village Council. But unfortunately the Arau Village Council prefers the APA to solve its problems instead of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. The APA is not the Government of Guyana, but an Amerindian NGO that needs to provide the right leadership to Guyana’s indigenous peoples and not to use them for monetary gains.
3. In relation to logging, The APA failed miserably to provide specifics in relation to logging problems on Amerindian Village lands. But if any Amerindian village has any problems where logging is concerned all that the Village Council has to do is to make a report to either the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs or the Guyana Forestry Commission. I can attest that both of these governmental bodies stand ready to engage in problem solving.
4. In relation to the LCDS. It is known that the APA does not support Guyana’s LCDS and wrote to both Norway and the World Bank not to provide funding for Guyana’s LCDS implementation. But Norway ignored the APA. The World Bank is still to provide funding to the National Toshaos Council to conduct LCDS consultations in the Amerindian communities of Guyana which the APA is knowledgeable about. But the problem with the APA is that they cannot as yet recover from the shock whereby 166 Toshaos signed in support of Guyana’s LCDS at the last National Toshaos Council conference held this year. An Amerindian village will first have to be titled and demarcated before it ‘opts-in’ the LCDS and the ‘opting-in’ process will be consistent with the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principle. No Amerindian Village will be forced to ‘opt-in’ the LCDS. The APA is fully aware about the LCDS in relation to Amerindian communities, but they have failed to provide information to Amerindian communities which is a deliberate act. In fact, the APA is misleading the Amerindian communities about Guyana’s LCDS which demonstrates clearly its mission, to stifle the social and economic development of Guyana’s indigenous peoples using foreign tax payers’ money. The Amerindian communities need to know about the unpatriotic role of the APA – can they trust the APA?
5. The APA claims that 66 Amerindian communities were represented at its assembly in Georgetown. The question is: were the persons who represented the 66 Amerindian communities genuine community leaders? Are they elected village leaders? Or  were they simply so-called APA activists who wished for a trip to Georgetown? They were not wrong. Mr Tony James is on the APA executive. Is he still in hiding from the person who wanted to kill him?