…Min Garrido-Lowe

MINISTER within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe says government has been laying the foundation for economic takeoff in the hinterland and vowed that the neglect of Amerindians will never happen again.

The minister was at the time delivering her address on the opening day of the 2018 budget debates. She told parliamentarians that budget 2018 reflects the APNU+AFC coalition government’s careful management of resources while noting that her administration over the past two and a half years has been “making the soft and hard decisions” in the interest of country.

She pointed to a menu of initiatives geared at stimulating economic growth within the indigenous communities. In her thirty-five minute long speech, directed primarily to enhancing the lives of the indigenous population, Garrido-Lowe said it is her administration’s intention to bridge the gap between the hinterland and the coastland, so that there will be equal opportunities for all and equity among all our citizens.

The minister said she and Minister Sydney Allicock have been working feverishly to fulfill the ministry’s mandate to support and encourage the economic empowerment, integration and environmental development of Indigenous Peoples’ communities through strategic and informed policy formulation.

Garrido-Lowe who was well supported by her colleagues on the governing side of the House, said economic empowerment is needed to restore pride and dignity to the Indigenous Population. “Economic empowerment is vital,” she stressed while adding that like all other groups, indigenous people are also in need of economic stability and comfort.

According to the Minister, no effort was made over the past few years to create an environment for indigenous people to enjoy a better standard of living. “It is really shameful, Mr. Speaker…but no more, Mr. Speaker, your Government is ensuring that that wrong is being corrected. Strong measures are being put in place to fix that problem and it will take some time, but it will be fixed,” declared the Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs.

She said that in keeping with the country’s Green Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, Government has embarked on a developmental strategy of building strong village economies by promoting agriculture, agro/food-processing, eco-tourism and youth entrepreneurship in hinterland regions.

Some $59M has been invested in the village of Paramakatoi, Region 8, for the establishment of a sun-dried tomato facility, while the High Commission of Canada invested a much-appreciated $5M. That facility, she said, is modern and has been completed with a solar power system, a solar dryer and internet connectivity, a processing facility, a dormitory, a water trestle and a guard hut.

She said the facility “stands at the top of the mountain, as a beacon of hope and innovation–a true testimony for all to see that the indigenous people of Guyana can rise to any occasion; that they can build thriving communities and sustain themselves, and contribute more to society.”
The minister noted that the processing facility which was built by the people of Paramakatoi, employs people from the said community. Some 40 farmers of Paramakatoi, Mountain Foot and Bamboo Creek supply the facility with naturally grown, healthy and fresh tomatoes. Nine persons are thus far employed at the processing facility.

The Paramakatoi Agricultural Cooperative was established with 58 farmers while 43 food processors were trained. To date the facility has purchased 4,956 pounds of tomatoes from these farmers and dried tomatoes in stock amounts to 334.2 pounds.
“It is the beginning of the positive change that we promised,” she asserted, while noting that this year’s budget reflects that the good life promised by her government continues. Santa Rosa Village in Region One will next year benefit from $10M to set up a ground coffee production facility which will create employment for women, youth and approximately twenty farmers of the community to begin with.

This project will generate much-needed revenue for the village, resulting in an improved standard of living for over one hundred persons who will benefit directly – that is farmers and their families and businesses. The sum of $10M is also allocated for a cassava flour production plant in Kwebana Village, also in Region One. “Mr. Speaker, the first peoples’ of this country produce a lot of cassava but Guyanese do not eat the amount of cassava bread or farine that they can produce… and anytime they plant more than they can eat and attempt to introduce it into the local Guyanese market, they suffer losses.”

The Minister said too that the time has come for Guyanese to endorse healthy eating habits. She said cassava is an absolutely healthy dietary choice which she believes should have been promoted years ago and pointed out that the villages of Kwebana, Santa Cruz, Waikarabie and Warapoka will be working to produce a mixture of wheat flour and cassava flour which can be used to make bread, cakes and pastries.

Meanwhile, in Smith’s Creek and Imbotero in the Mabaruma sub-region, at least three communities will directly benefit from crab meat processing and fish processing. “These two communities have been surviving from a day to day basis from the sales of crabs and fish. This processing and packaging facility will allow for a longer shelf life for crab meat and fish, creating more sales for these products, hence bringing sustained revenue into these communities,” the Minister assured.

Additionally, $10M has been allocated for the Lapidary Workshop in Monkey Mountain. She disclosed that introductory training will commence in Monkey Mountain next week with 20 persons from the communities of Monkey Mountain, Tuseneng, Kurukabaru, Kato and Mikwak. The participants of the two-week workshop will be trained to recognise and gather quality semi-precious stones, shown how to test them and will learn the history of the various stones.

In the second phase of training, at least six of them will be trained in cutting and polishing, and jewellery making. Additionally, craftsmen and women will benefit by creating unique craft cases out of tibisiri, nibi, wood and spun cotton for the different pieces of jewellery. The polished stones will also be sold locally to support our local jewelers in Guyana. “I can assure you that the best advice and guidance and technical will be coming from no other than our Minster of Business, one of Guyana’s leading jewellers,” Minister Garrido-Lowe stated while adding that the business will be marketed online.

Moreover, the Minister said presidential grants to support sustainable village economies will continue this year with $224M being allocated to indigenous communities to implement projects that will support and enhance existing livelihoods, development of new economic, social and environmental initiatives, provide jobs for the local people, increased entrepreneurial capacity and help in the reduction of poverty; linking all to the Green State Economy.

Not enough
But the plans outlined by Minister Garrido-Lowe did not find favour with Opposition Member of Parliament, Yvonne Pearson. The Mainstay/ Whyaka resident told the National Assembly that the activities outlined by the Minister were not significant enough.

“As an indigenous person, I feel insulted by the Honourable Member saying this budget is a fit and proper budget—what is fit and proper about the 2018 budget?” she asked as members of the parliamentary opposition heckled in support of her question. She agreed, nonetheless, that the indigenous people need to be empowered but does not believe that the journey to the good life continues for those living in the hinterland regions of the country.

“I see a lot of window dressing in the 2018 budget–the journey to a dying economy; journey to corruption and lack of transparency, increased poverty and hardship,” Pearson declared while stressing that the indigenous population also have a right to enjoy the good life as promised.

She pointed to the $16M budgetary allocation for the National Toshaos Council (NTC). The Council had requested some $37M. On Saturday, NTC Chairman, Lennox Shuman expressed disappointment and concern over the budget allocation and noted that the 2018 allocation represents no increase for the Council.

He told reporters at a media briefing that the $16M allocation is inadequate to effectively carry out the mandate of the Council. As such, Pearson called on Finance Minister Winston Jordan to reconsider the request made by the NTC and make available to them $37M.