Where is the genuine care for the wholesome development of Amerindian communities?

Sep 21, 2014 News

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By Valerie Garrido- Lowe MP
The Pakaraimas is home to twenty-five indigenous communities, high hills and awesome mountains, playful little

creeks and picturesque waterfalls … sceneries so beautiful any photographer could not ask for more. It is also home to one of the nation’s first people, the Patamonas, whose great love for their homeland is truly admirable, a trait they share with almost all first nations’ peoples in other hinterland regions.
To the few ‘new-born’ and slowly increasing adventurous souls from the coast, the once-a-year Pakaraima Mountain Safari offers excitement, an exhilarating nature challenge and lots of clean, fresh air – all good and positive things. But for the residents of that region it is not a ten-day Safari; it is everyday life and their challenges are double compared to those of our coastal brothers and sisters. Theirs is a continuous fight for their traditional land and resource rights and lifestyle while appreciating the benefits of modernization.
Amerindian lands are most important to them and in the early 1960s, with the advent of Independence, Amerindians had felt then that their lands were under threat once British rule was gone and the new system of governance was in place. That spurred Amerindian activist and the first Amerindian Parliamentarian, Stephen Campbell to petition the Queen in London in 1962 to ensure that, after Independence, the lands on which the Amerindians lived for thousands of years would not be confiscated. However, today, forty-eight years later while celebrating the achievements of Stephen Campbell, it is unfortunate that Amerindians are feeling that their rights are being ignored and their lands are slipping away from them.
In the wake of demarcation, which many assumed to be best for Amerindians, a side effect has developed that I am sure was not taken into consideration. This is the fact that the demarcation of villages is causing some amount of confusion and dissatisfaction for many Amerindians, where some of the old, traditional boundaries were ignored and new boundaries were made. Because of this, some village councils found that their village lands were reduced while others received an added portion of land. Those that were reduced were told to apply for extensions as soon as they had been demarcated; however, many are still awaiting extensions after applying for some years, as in the case of Monkey Mountain where I visited recently. In this village approximately two hundred and fifty-six persons found themselves out of the demarcated area and are now presumed to be living on state land.
In 2005, the village council had applied for extension of their lands to include those displaced Amerindians who had been living there since the village was founded, but nothing was done by the authorities. In 2007, they made another request for the same extension but, although they were promised that they would have been given first preference by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, so far both their requests have fallen on deaf ears. The displaced residents are now being referred to as living in Section Two and they are not pleased about it.
Monkey Mountain residents are also expressing their dissatisfaction about another village, Taruka, making overtures on acquiring part of their village as theirs and this includes the area where the two hundred and fifty-six displaced persons occupy right now. Should their request be granted, residents of Monkey Mountain could very well find themselves being referred to as Tarukans. In the case of Paramakatoi, there was an overlapping where Paramakatoi got a piece of Kato’s land which, fortunately, has been corrected.
It is no secret that demarcation seems to be having a negative effect on neighbourly relations in all hinterland regions. In the case of Kwebana in Region One, they were demarcated, but when they applied for an extension they found Bai Shan Lin doing brisk logging business in the area they applied for and their new neighbours were not too friendly towards them at all.
As one Kwebana resident described, when they worked for Bai Shan Lin they cooked their own food as they are accustomed to, but had to place their pot of food on the ground. They felt bad placing their pot of cooked food on the ground so they decided to build an ordinary bench and placed the pot on it. When their boss came out and saw the pot on the bench he flew into a rage and started shouting in Chinese, then he kicked the pot of food to the ground and kicked the bench down too.
Incidents like these have caused many residents from various villages of Region Eight to believe that the best option for the safety of their lands and good relations with neighbouring villages is to acquire their land en bloc, with all villages of Region Eight included. They have started the discussion process and will be lobbying the Government and Opposition parties to get on board with this programme. And they are not alone in their quest; Region Nine and Region Seven are on the same path. Stephen Campbell must be smiling in heaven right now.
I do not think though, that he would have been happy that while the PPP erected monuments to Dr. Cheddi and Janet Jagan for their work done for Amerindians in both Kato and Monkey Mountain, they have not erected any honouring the Amerindian peoples. Every morning in Kato, residents raise the National Flag of Guyana and then the PPP/C Party Flag… in all truth I cannot say which one takes precedence over the other, since I did not ask that question. In Monkey Mountain one councillor told me, “Miss, and they put that thing there for Burnham”! I laughed, because while some residents know a little about the monument, most do not know that much and generally come to their own conclusions.
But the real issue here is that it seems no one in the Government or in the ruling party ever encouraged Amerindians to erect monuments in their own villages to honour the founders of the villages.  After all, these are the people that should be honoured. There should also be village flags proudly fluttering against such beautiful backdrops. But where is the genuine care for the wholesome development of hinterland/Amerindian communities and the Amerindian as an independent person? Presently, these ideas are taking a back seat while the promotion of the PPP/C Party takes first and centrefold space and I rather suspect that the intention is to dump such monuments in every Amerindian village.

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