–Minister Browne lambastes WIN MP for silence during atrocities against Amerindians from 2015-2020

–points to ‘real progress’ being achieved under PPP/C

Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Sarah Browne, on Tuesday lambasted former A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) minister and current We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Member of Parliament (MP), Dawn Hastings, for her silence during the atrocities faced by Amerindians during the 2015-2020 period.

The Minister was at the time making her contribution to the 2026 national budget debates, during which she said Hastings sat silent at the time, when several issues were affecting indigenous people and villages.

“Dawn Hastings, who was in government for five years as a sitting government minister, the highest as the Minister of State and also the general secretary of her party, the People’s National Congress Reform, she sat as quiet as a mouse,” Browne said.

She noted that Hastings sat quietly when land tenure issues sat dormant for five years, while more than 2,000 Community Service Officers (CSO) were sent home, while her colleague minister also said that Amerindians should not receive money from the resources of oil.

As such, she said, “Where was her voice then, Mr Speaker? What were the recommendations and interventions towards improving the Amerindian hostel then? What was done to improve the Amerindian hostel?”

Against this backdrop, Browne further told the House of the tremendous changes that have taken place in Amerindian communities and the further rehiring of CSOs and direct cash transfers to villages through the country’s LCDS programme.

As such, she added, “You have a chance to do the right thing now, and that is to support budget 2026 as presented before this National Assembly”