–Minister Browne lambastes WIN MP Hastings for silence amidst 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 APNU+AFC minister and current WIN MP, Dawn Hastings, for her silence amidst the atrocities faced by Amerindians during the coalition’s term from 2015-2020.
The minister was at the time making her contribution to the 2026 budget debate, during which she said Hastings sat silent at the time, when several issues were affecting Indigenous Peoples 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, and when more than 2,000 Community Service Officers (CSOs) were sent home and while her colleague minister also said that Amerindians should not receive money from the resources of oil.
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”
Meanwhile, Browne turned her attention to comments made by another WIN MP, Deon LaCruz, who made comments about Amerindian housing.
Against this backdrop, she referenced a WhatsApp message she received in the early hours of the morning from a young Patamona woman of Region Eight, who took offence to claims suggesting that traditional housing symbolised poverty or backwardness.
The minister stressed that these views were dismissive of Amerindian culture and identity, noting that traditional homes reflect generations of indigenous knowledge, sustainability and adaptation to the environment.
The Amerindian Affairs Minister further underscored that development should expand choices for people, not erase cultural heritage, and warned against framing indigenous lifestyles as inferior.
To this end, she said that real progress in Amerindian communities must be measured by access to clean water, free healthcare, free education, improved road networks and opportunities to strengthen livelihoods.
These priorities are being advanced by the PPP/C administration, rather than imposing a single definition of development on all communities.
She further pointed out that the government’s housing programmes in Region Eight were implemented following consultations with residents, many of whom deliberately opted to maintain traditional housing styles.
It was then that she declared that their choice must be respected, as Indigenous Peoples have lived in such homes for generations.