Orealla Toshao accuses Peneux brothers of staging a coup

Jul 06, 2013 News

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Floyd Edwards, Toshao of Amerindian villages, Orealla and Siparuta, believes that the allegations of discrepancies in financial reports and misappropriation of the Council’s funds made against him by resident, Carl Peneux, is a way to retrieve power “through the backdoor” for himself.
According to Peneux, since Edwards was elected in April 2012 as Head of the Village Council in April 2013, there have been several imbalances and discrepancies in the financial reports.

He also charges Edwards with several other acts of misappropriation of the Council’s funds.
Peneux was said to have collected 140 signatures of residents in Orealla for a petition calling for Edwards’ removal from the position as Toshao.
More recently, he was moving to have the village council disbanded while installing an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to conduct a thorough investigation into the financial affairs of the existing Council.
During a Press Conference yesterday at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Toshao Edwards said that he is disturbed by the issues raised by Carl Peneux and his brother, Lloyd Peneux, about the Amerindian community. “They are trying to paint a bad picture of the Council in and around the country.”
Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Derick John, at the conference, described the issue as one which eliminates law and order. The chairman said that the allegations made by Peneux show disrespect to the village council, who are democratically elected to lead the community.
According to the Toshao, the issues raised by the Peneux brothers have been adequately dealt with by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.
Edwards said that after he had won the majority of the votes at the elections in 2012, the brothers had lodged a complaint with the Minister of Amerindian Affairs and even the President, saying that the election was “rigged”. The Toshao noted that in response to the claims, the Minister issued a report which stated that the election was transparent and that the Toshao and other members of the council were duly elected according to the Amerindian Act.
Further, responding to the allegations lodged of the misuse of the Council’s funds, the Toshao said that auditors were sent to audit the first four months of the Council’s account. “The Ministry went there about four times dealing with these cases”, he said.
He added that not only did staff of the Ministry conduct the investigation but the Minister herself went into the village to declare what was found in the auditors’ report, “that the Toshao and the secretary didn’t take the money and put it in their pockets but that they spent the money on the village.”
According to Edwards, Peneux is not accepting the reports. He said that Peneux claims that “some internal agreement” had been made between the Council and auditors so as to produce a transparent report.
Edwards, in turn, believes that Peneux has not been transparent in setting up the Interim Management Committee aimed at disbanding the Village Council. The Toshao believes that the “so-called” IMC was not set up in accordance with the Amerindian Act. He said that it has therefore been deemed unconstitutional.
Edwards said that the IMC set up by Peneux “doesn’t have the authority to transact any business on behalf of the Orealla Village Council or on behalf of the residents of Orealla.
Edwards said that, at present, the Orealla Village Council is trying to develop their village and they would not tolerate any outside interference that would cause confusion in the community.
He said that the village had proposed projects with outside donors but it is likely that because of the allegations of the Peneux brother that appeared in the newspapers, the “donor agencies would feel that the people of Orealla are not capable of handling projects or funds” and therefore decline from lending their assistance.
Edwards believes that if Peneux “works together with him to get things done in the community”, it would lead to development.
Pointing to Janice Herman, who was also present at the conference, Edwards said that the woman, although leader of one of the minority groups, is fully supportive of his Council and believes that Peneux should adopt the same attitude.
The woman said that she knows that the Toshao and the Council were elected democratically and therefore deserve the cooperation of the residents. She said that in order for the village to move forward with development the all residents need to support the Council. She added that the issues raised by the Peneux brother were issues that started long before Edwards came into office.

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