SINCERE and heartfelt congratulations to President Bharrat Jagdeo for being the recipient of the ‘Champion of the Earth Award’ for demonstrating sound environmental leadership by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). No doubt President Jagdeo’s selection for this prestigious award must have been a difficult task but at the end Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy was the clear winner, as Lord Nicholas Stern describes our President as “one of the world’s foremost Heads of Government in advocating for a Global Low Carbon Future”. As part of the award President Jagdeo also received US$40,000 which he will give generously to the Amerindian community of this country.
But I would like to know what his detractors and critics both locally and in the diaspora are now saying to themselves. No doubt that they must have been left with their mouths open as Guyana’s LCDS continues to ascend to international prominence and recognition as a realistic initiative to militate against Global Climate Change and its catastrophic consequences.
But what manner of man is this? President Jagdeo will give his Champion of the Earth monetary award to the Amerindian communities of Guyana? I think this is beyond excellence which is a succinct example of genuine statesmanship and national leadership which the Indigenous communities of Guyana must recognise, since some among us have received monetary awards in the past and give absolutely nothing to our poor indigenous communities. President Jagdeo is not only talking about Amerindian development, he means what he says and is demonstrating how he can bring this about. All Amerindian communities in Guyana must therefore take note of President Jagdeo’s commitment to the development of their communities.