For the last two decades, the PPP/C Government has prudently managed the affairs of the country, allowing for the economy to experience continuous growth and the lives and livelihood of citizens to be transformed.

The administration is now focused on propelling a new wave of development for Guyana, and so it is holding community dialogue to identify issues that thwart the realisation of this objective.
It is in this context that Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, led a team comprising Permanent Secretary Nigel Dharamlall and Liaison Officer to the Minister, Yvonne Pearson, from October 24 to 30, on a visit to several Amerindian communities in Regions 8 and 9, and heard residents’ concerns, as well as suggestions for addressing impediments to advancing their community development.
The team visited Kato, Kurukubaru, Kamana, Kopinang and Waipa in Region 8, and Shulinab, Kumu, Karasabai, Pai Pang, Tiger Pond, Rukumoto, Tipuru, Kwatamang, Wowetta and Fairview in Region 9.

Education
The residents had a number of development proposals, foremost of which was expanding secondary access to education in the North Pakaraimas.
Residents in Kato, Kurukubaru, Kamana and Kopinang said the Parmakatoi secondary school does not have the capacity to provide for the increasing number of students from these areas. Each village proposed the construction of a secondary school to ease the burden on the Parmakatoi Secondary.
Minister Sukhai reminded them when the PPP/C Government assumed office, there was only one secondary school in the entire hinterland region and that was in St Ignatius, Region 9.
Today there are 13 schools, along with the Anna Regina Multilateral School, providing hinterland students with access to secondary education. The Anna Regina Multilateral, while not in the hinterland, provides access to secondary education for all the Amerindian communities in Region 2.
The minister reminded that there has been progress in the area of education in the regions, and explained that the reason that the hinterland secondary schools are bursting at the seams is because the PPP/C Government has ensured universal access to primary education.
She noted that the provision of universal access to secondary education is among the new wave of development issues that government must overcome. She reassured of government’s commitment in this regard, and said that it must now seek to see how fast it can establish additional secondary schools to cater for the influx of children coming out of the primary schools that it has established across the country.
Already a secondary school is being constructed in Kato to afford more students access to secondary education. Students in Region 8 can also access education through the Mahdia Secondary School.
A similar message of government focus on universal access to secondary education was delivered to the residents of Shulinab, Region 9, and its satellites, Merinau and Quiko, who stated that the St Ignatius Primary is overcrowded.
During the meetings, there were commitments in response to requests for repairs to schools and teachers’ quarters.
At the meeting in Karasabai, Region 9, Chairman Lorentino Wilson committed the region’s resource to replacing the windows and fixing the stairway of the Karasabai Primary, and fixing the plumbing of the teachers’ quarter.
In Kopinang, Region 8, Assistant Regional Executive Officer Shameer Arjoon, in response to appeal for repairs to the flooring of Kopinang primary, disclosed that this concern is soon to be remedied, as it is budgeted for under the Region’s 2013 education allocation.
Several of the communities sought the ministry’s assistance in acquiring vehicles and tools and equipment to assist their economic activities.
In Region 8, Waipa requested a 15 hp boat engine. Kumu, in Region 9, asked for a tractor to transport the village children to school and to cultivate 2 ½ acres of bananas, which the village will soon be undertaking. Rewa also requested a tractor for land transportation and for use on the farming project that the village is soon to launch.
Minister Sukhai explained that the ministry is only allocated a specific amount of funds under the national budget in the course of one year, to provide transportation and equipment assistance to the hinterland communities. It can only afford to distribute about four tractors per year. The villagers were told that the ministry will make note of their requests and in time, seek to render assistance with emphasis on what is most needed.
The minister committed to providing the 15hp boat engine for Waipa and four wheelbarrows for Kumu, as the ministry is in the position to respond to these small requests.
Government has invested heavily in the supply of water in the hinterland communities and has sought to make interventions to benefit close to 75 percent of the communities. To this end, there has been installation of water systems in the centre of the communities to allow for the delivery of critical services, such as health care and for students’ use in schools. In most communities, stand-pipes have also been placed at strategic points.
During the meetings, residents said the intervention was too focused on supply at the very centre of the community. They stated that there are some households that do not receive the service and still have to access water through the traditional means.
Residents were reminded that the water programme for the hinterland is a continuing one, and that every year, through the national budget, resources are allocated to improve on interventions.
The Administration has invested more than $900M in the past six years towards improving hinterland water supply and more than 60,000 people have benefitted.
The concerns pertaining to the water service were noted and will be forwarded to the Ministry of Housing and Water.
The councils of several villages, including Shulinab and Fairview, Region 9, complained of non-cooperation as well as a bad attitude from health providers, and in some instances, from teachers as it relates to engaging the community and performing their tasks.
Minister Sukhai informed that any practitioner who operates within the village must develop a partnership with that village, as he or she is in service to the people under the directive of the government. She advised residents to lodge complaints with the ministry that has oversight over these workers.