AFTER sabotaging the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) during their time in office, the opposition has now, ahead of the upcoming polls, vowed to increase the carbon credit funds allocated to Amerindian villages.

Branding this as “shameless” and “dishonest,” People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during a Thursday news conference, slammed the opposition’s opportunistic interest in the well-being of Amerindians.

A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Juretha Fernandes, recently promised 50 per cent, as opposed to the current figure, of the carbon credit proceeds being allocated directly to Indigenous communities.

Dr. Jagdeo when asked about these statements said: “It’s amazing how dishonest and shameless people could be. They were touting that Granger had this great plan, the green state strategy. They didn’t earn a cent for the country. It was going nowhere. We had to spend the money to develop it, money that we left from the early LCDS, that they were opposed to.”

Upon assuming office in 2020, the PPP/C was forced to pick up where it left off in 2015, in the areas of environmental sustainability and economic growth, since the previous APNU+AFC administration was unable to execute an effective strategy.

The APNU+AFC coalition had replaced the LCDS with the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS), which took five years and millions of dollars to develop, but had no serious implementable deliverable and no one was clear on what it was about.

Guyana did not earn a cent in revenue for environmental services while APNU+AFC was in government, nor was a new agreement with Norway established.

Dr. Jagdeo while speaking on how the LCDS has brought forth transformation for the Indigenous community said: “So we made it clear that 15 per cent of those (carbon) funds will go to the Amerindian communities. So far, they’ve been getting over 20 per cent of the funds from the first three years. Fourteen billion went to the villages. The villages have to decide on their own how to spend the money. We don’t tell them to do that.

“Now, the rest of the money is going now to safeguard the coast of Guyana from Region Two all the way to Region Six, the entire coast. We’re spending on adaptation measures to safeguard our villages, our communities against flooding, etc, and opening up more lands for farmers and other people along the coast. That’s where we’re spending the money back in the country,” he added.

The PPP General Secretary attributed the opposition’s sudden concern for Amerindian communities as an attempt to do damage control following the “disastrous” turnout at the recent APNU rally in Bartica.