…President urges Pakuri residents

PRESIDENT David Granger on Saturday during his visit to Pakuri which was designated the Heritage Village for Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations urged Guyana’s First Peoples to make use of the land to produce more foods, fruits for sale in the markets and to look towards eco-diversification in providing employment for all in the community.

Granger also encouraged Toshao Lenox Shuman to pay attention to the protocol plan which will be introduced in the community as the way forward and will be the guide in achieving objectives as it relates to the village.

The Head of State was at the time delivering the feature address at Pakuri Village Heritage Day, where he lauded the residents for their insight of changing the name of the village from St. Cuthbert’s Mission to Pakuri Village.

He said the authentication exercise was commendable, since the village was one of the largest in terms of geographical location and bigger than most Caribbean islands.

Granger told the large gathering that the protocol plan would serve as a guide, since Pakuri must go where it is going and it will work systematically to achieve that goal in which change is continuous.

The President said the protocol plan would eliminate the use of generators in the village and ultimately enhance the lives of residents and promote education for the children in which Pakuri must accept responsibility for each child.

He added that with the protocol plan, no child should drop out of school and he would like to see more indigenous youths graduating from CPCE and UG and for the creation of more jobs for the villagers of Pakuri.

Granger said for greater job-creation in Pakuri Village, they have to introduce agro-processing and more craft production since the village had easier access to markets than other Amerindian communities.

He said, “Every indigenous youth can be employed by utilising the resources in the village such as having[MO1] crops of plantains among others to make chips to supply supermarkets and shops.”

The President added that the residents could convert traditional products into an industrial footing and use agricultural science to produce more from less land.

Against this background, Granger told the indigenous people that Guyana belonged to us and the ‘Giants of Guyana’ that is, the animals are part of Guyana as well as, part of the environment as protection – as being the habitat of the creatures in our high, low, grass, Rupununi lands and Essequibo islands.

Granger said that we have our rainforest, rivers, and beautiful waterfalls and as such, Pakuri Village can make a living out of eco-tourism to the benefit of its 1,500 residents by promoting canoeing, fishing, bird watching etc., where people can visit to experience clean air and fresh water among other things.

He also implored residents to make Pakuri Village more environmentally friendly by removing empty bottles in its surroundings and to embrace eco-diversification where produce can be processed, packaged and sold in Guyana in our supermarkets, shops, and markets.

On this note, Granger told the gathering of indigenous people to get rid of the addiction to oil, which he reminded them that is coming and it will go as well.

“We wouldn’t get drunk on oil. We can produce the best hammocks,” he said.

Granger said Pakuri can have eco-tourism as profit and introduce its goal of eco-diversification for greater job-creation and to protect our habitat for animals.

Also making remarks was Chief Kafoteh Lenox Shuman, who was outfitted with his traditional wear and head-dress.

He said in order for the village to be transformed, they must maintain their rich tradition and culture and congratulated the President for accepting his application on behalf of the village for a name change.

Meanwhile, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, in his remarks on Saturday at Pakuri Village reflected on indigenous persons who have made contributions to Guyana, starting from former minister Vibert De Souza, who was instrumental in advocating for the Amerindian event “Village Day” to become a national one which was first celebrated in Annai.

He also highlighted the roles of other indigenous individuals as he spoke of how rich a village Pakuri is since it has all the ingredients for its residents to have a good life, but suggested they require good leadership which will have the interests of the community as a priority and not for their own personal interests.

Allicock said there was a need for Indigenous peoples to work together and to identify good leaders for development of the community and had a donation of musical pieces for the villagers.

In her brief remarks, Opposition Member of Parliament, Gail Teixeira said she was there to represent Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo and was pleased with the changes in the village over the years.

She said that the PPP was however, proud of its track record of Amerindian rights and land titling and noted that Amerindians are the true protectors of our environment, since they were the first peoples to settle at our borders – a debt we can never repay.

Teixeira noted that instead of us deciding who came first, we should celebrate as a diverse group since we have a lot to be proud of and reflect on our achievements and move forward.

She asked President Granger to assist the flood- hit Regions of Seven, Eight and Nine and in one community 60 houses were washed away where a budgetary allocation is needed for the residents to ‘get back on their feet’ so to speak, since he has signalled his support to assist hurricane-hit Caribbean islands.

The atmosphere at Pakuri Village was one of celebration which was well attended by Guyanese of all walks of life and there was plenty to eat and drink from the many stalls set up.

After the packed programme, there were activities of cassava processing, tocuma bursting, straw plaiting, tocuma eating, fly drinking, bow and arrow shooting and spear throwing ,all of which President Granger viewed.

He also had a walk around the village as he met and greeted both visitors and villagers.

The programme included cultural chants, prayers, songs, dances, poems, and display of traditional outfits.