Land, water and air transport significantly improved by the PPP/C?

Jul 28, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The statement by the PPP/C contained in the welcome to Amerindian leaders featured in Monday’s Kaieteur News, that “From its inception, the PPP/C government has committed itself to improving the quality of life of the Amerindian people” needs supporting evidence as can be seen with the following points:
• Land, water and air transport are all owned by private investors who determine their own high fares. This government has no subsidized public transportation system in the hinterland.
• In the age of modernity, some new buildings that have been built such as health centres lack adequate basic medicinal supplies and trained teachers are short in number in many schools. The pupils of a particular school have to travel a two-hour drive by speedboat to write any national exam at another school. In various regions, children have to travel long distances to attend a lone live-in secondary school in their sub-regions. Solar panels that were installed for millions of dollars in schools no longer work after a few months or years in operation.
• The PPP/C took longer than seven years to recognize and swear in members of the Indigenous Peoples Commission (IPC). There is no established secretariat of the IPC other than being housed in the building of the Ethnic Relations Commission at this time, even though the commission is provided for in the amended Constitution of August 2003.
• What access to safe water is the administration talking about? Does their ‘heavy’ investment consist of the installation of a few water pumps in some villages and the distribution of a few overhead water tanks to some villagers to appease the indigenous peoples while they continue to issue more mining and logging concessions on the traditional lands of my indigenous peoples that pollute their waterways, with the assertion that these concessions do not lie on titled lands?
Article 53 (c-ii) of the weak Amerindian Act states that ‘if the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission intends to issue a permit, … over or in any rivers, creeks or waterways which pass through Village lands or any lands contiguous with Village lands, GGMC shall first … satisfy itself that the impact of mining on the Village will not be harmful.’
Please note that our peoples need not be satisfied about possible impacts nor have the final say. Guyanese and the international media need to take a firsthand look in villages that lie along the Barama, Waini, Mazaruni and many other rivers, where your stomach will churn to see men, women and children use rivers that you will never allow your children to bathe in, your women to wash or your men to fish from.
• The PPP/C’s ‘commitment …demonstrated in its swift action to flood victims in the Rupununi’ was not an act of valour or one of favour, it is their obligation as a government of our country to ensure that citizens are safe and adequately provided for in times of disaster. They did not use their money, but ours that are in the state’s treasury, so they have to stop trying to make our people feel obligated to them.
• The PPP/C leadership have been going to international forums supporting that there are no land problems in Guyana and that the land titling process is fair and transparent and negotiated in good faith, and yet the only recourse for Amerindian villages dissatisfied with the Minister’s decision under section 62 of the Amerindian Act 2006 is to apply to the High Court for a review of the decision.
The Akawaios and Arecunas of the Upper Mazaruni have filed a lawsuit against the government using this recourse and after more than eleven years, are yet to get a ruling in this matter. There are many indigenous or Amerindian villages that are experiencing problems due to land titling, extension and demarcation. A lands commission study will find land problems in Regions 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9, and reports of our leaders and villagers being subjected to various threats by persons that feel they own the people.
• The Amerindian Act of 2006 (62 – 2) states that ‘In making a decision the Minister shall take into account full information obtained in the investigation and consider the extent to which the Amerindian Village or Community has demonstrated a physical, traditional, cultural association with or spiritual attachment to the land requested’ and yet even after being subjected to an investigation, according to article 61 (1,2,3) and following the terms and meeting the ridiculous criteria, village councils and villagers have been insulted with comments such as “What do you want with so much of land? You don’t know how to develop this land” “This land is as big as Barbados,” “What will happen to the other Guyanese, where will they live?” Of course our people do not want the whole of Guyana… that would be ridiculous to even ponder.
Finally, our Amerindian leaders who are in Georgetown should be encouraged to support each other in issues they represent on behalf of their peoples and demand that their rights be protected and respected in every form in their deliberations during the week. It is time to put aside political persuasion and affiliations and be true ambassadors for our indigenous population that did not increase due to ‘the plans and programs implemented by this Government’ as issued in the statement to welcome you unless of course the PPP/C had embarked on a procreation programme that other Guyanese need to know about.
L. George

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