Regardless of the geographic location of communities, and settlement patterns, the People’s Progressive Party Government is committed to their development, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai told residents of Malali and Muritaro, two riverine communities of Region 10 during a visit on Sunday. The minister and a team of officials from the ministry, the National Toshaos Council (NTC) and the Region Ten administration, engaged residents on pertinent issues regarding their communities’ sustainable development.  
“I am very pleased to be here today (Sunday); it’s my first meeting with residents since I came into office as Minister of Amerindian Affairs,” Minister Sukhai told residents of Malali.
Minister Sukhai reiterated government’s commitment to substantially improve the financial independence of the communities in the upper Demerara River.
Amerindian communities across the country, she said, are becoming financially independent as government continues to implement policies and programmes that are transforming their village economies and sustaining their traditional way of life and surroundings.
Muritaro and Malali, she said, like other hinterland communities, continue to benefit from government initiatives, including the annual presidential grants, school feeding and uniform programmes, Hinterland Secure Livelihood programme, community development plans, electrification programme, scholarship and hinterland road programmes, land demarcation, mid wives’ training and the hinterland teachers’ upgrading programme.
While encouraging residents and village councillors to decide on priority projects for the presidential grants for 2010 and 2011, Minister Sukhai said that they are to be used for income generating activities and that while some communities are gradually developing themselves using the grants, others are yet to make progress. Today, there are 159 communities receiving presidential grants.
During the NTC meeting in July, President Jagdeo had announced that 27 more villages will be added to the list of recipients of presidential grants and that the grants will increase from $320M to $500M.  
Minister Sukhai also noted over the last 19 years, many schools, dormitories and other educational facilities have been built across Guyana, including in the hinterland regions, to ensure each child is provided with quality education.
“Schools and health facilities in hinterland regions are no longer being manned by coastlanders, but by trained teachers, medex and community health workers.
Minister Sukhai also said that hinterland students benefiting from scholarships to study in Georgetown are now being accommodated at the recently commissioned dormitory at Liliendaal.
“The number of hinterland students attending secondary schools in Georgetown has significantly increased over the past few years, as more and more students are being offered scholarships,” Minister Sukhai informed residents.
Hinterland students, she said, are also benefiting from scholarships to study abroad in various fields, including medicine and engineering. 
Government’s school uniform and feeding programmes are allotted huge sums yearly to ensure all children benefit from educational opportunities.
Minister Sukhai also told the residents of initiatives that are on stream that will significantly impact their lives, such as the   US$1M education learning channel that will eventually transmit all across the country and the One Laptop Per Family Programme.
Government, she said, has established health facilities to provide basic health care to the Amerindian people; and in many areas, Amerindian health workers are the ones providing the services.
The PPP/C administration, in its 2006 Manifesto, promised to ensure that Amerindians are included in the national programmes, so as to lessen the development gap; this promise, Minister Sukhai said, has been fulfilled and “Amerindians, like any other ethnic group in Guyana, are involved in decision making at the highest levels”.    
She also urged residents to be guided in their affairs by the new Amerindian Act which empowers Amerindians socially, economically and politically.
Minister Sukhai told the residents that when the PPP/C Government took office, there were 74 titled Amerindian villages, and in less than 15 years, 96 villages were demarcated.
Minister Sukhai also used the opportunity to inform residents about some of the activities planned for Heritage Month in September. (GINA)