By Vanessa Narine

THE Amerindian People’s Association’s (APA) protest staged during last week’s National Toshaos’ Conference was baseless, according to Chair of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Derrick John.

He said the protestors are Georgetown-based Amerindians who are out of touch with what is actually ongoing in the respective communities. “The people who are protesting are not Toshaos, or even people who live in the hinterland. They do not understand the issues,” he said.
John stressed that those toshaos and village representatives in attendance at the conference were in support of the efforts at land titling and demarcation, which had been delayed because of financing challenges. “The problems we had with financing were resolved on Monday when the agreement for $10.7M was signed,” he said.
The NTC Chair added that the contentions of the APA are in actuality non-issues.

SUCCESS
He maintained that the protest did not negatively impact the activities of the Seventh Annual Conference, which he deemed a major success.
Two resolutions were made on Friday, when the five-day conference ended. The first was a call for the judicial system to speed up the process of dealing with cases related to land matters and social issues; and the second was a call for political parties to work collaboratively to advance the best interest of not only Amerindian people, but all Guyanese; since disunity only stagnates progress.
John added that a highlight of the activities was the opportunity to engage Government ministers, who addressed the concerns affecting different communities. According to him, the three major issues were education, health and agriculture.
John said, “With education and health, the main problem we have is the human resources available to serve in Amerindian communities; but the solution we found was to train our people so they come home to serve their community.
“Another problem in health we have is the need for upgrading the facilities, and we were assured that, once the financing is available, this would be done.
“Requests were made also for agricultural equipment and supplies; and, at the conference, some communities received tractors and others were assured of support.
“We know things take time, but we are happy that we saw clear support for the development of the Amerindian people.”
The NTC Chair also noted that a concern was that, with the Budget cuts, the Presidential Grants would also be cut; but he said President Donald Ramotar has committed to ensuring that the 2012 monies are paid to communities before the end of the year.
“The grants are something that helps the community greatly in moving their own work along,” he said.
John maintained that the assurance of continued support was a tangible take away from the 2013 NTC Conference.
This year’s conference was held under the theme ‘Culture of Good Governance for sustained village economies’.