THE Ministry of the Presidency has clarified that the Government of Guyana is not responsible for the delay in the name change that was proposed for St. Cuthbert’s Mission, but rather there appears to be some disagreement among residents of the community.
On Monday at the opening of the National Toshaos Council meeting, Chairman of the body, Joel Fredericks, sought to blame the administration for the delay in the name-change. However, in a release the ministry said at a meeting held at St. Cuthbert’s on June 3, 2018, to confirm the Resolution, a group of residents indicated that they were not in favour of a name-change, while others claimed that the process for the name-change had been completed a while ago. The meeting was attended by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Mr. Sydney Allicock; Attorney-at-law, Mr. David James; Adviser on Land and Development, Mr. Doerga Persaud and the newly elected Toshao, Ms. Beverly Clenkian.
During the deliberations, the decision was made for a vote to be taken; however, at that moment, it was brought to the attention of the gathering that a number of residents were not present at the meeting and the request was made for another meeting to be scheduled to discuss the issue of the change.

It was then decided that Sunday, July 15, 2018, would be the date of the next meeting to which residents would be properly invited. It was also decided that it would not be necessary for the minister and his party to attend said meeting. It was further decided that the results of that July 15, 2018 meeting will be communicated by the Village Council of St. Cuthbert’s Mission to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs for its attention.