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National Toshaos Conference confirmed for next week
By Nicholas Peters
Principal Regional Dev. Officer, Anil Roberts
Coming off the recently held National Toshao Elections, the National Toshaos’ Conference (NTC) is scheduled to be held next week, from August 17 to 22.
This was revealed by Principal Regional Development Officer, Anil Roberts, at a recently held press conference at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Thomas Street, Georgetown.
The NTC is an annual forum at which all of Guyana’s Toshaos – the leaders of Indigenous communities – gather to discuss issues and policies which affect the nation’s first peoples, with government officials and various organisations.
According to Roberts, the National Toshaos’ Council will take place from August 17-19. The Council is in charge of organising various Indigenous Heritage activities and is the central body for Toshaos in the country.
Meanwhile, the remaining days (August 20- 22) will deal with the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Resource Conference.
It was initially reported that the NTC would be held in July; however, Roberts explained that due to the delay of the National Toshao Elections and some last-minute setbacks, the conference had to be pushed to August. Roberts shared that all Toshaos have been notified about the NTC and will be arriving in Georgetown this weekend in time for the Conference.
Further, the ministry official said that the final report for the recently conducted audits in 18 of the country’s Indigenous communities will be presented to the Council by Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock.
Minister Allicock had explained that the aim of the audits was to organise an accounting system which would prepare outlying settlements for future development.
He added that the audits came at a time when the Ministry discovered that Indigenous communities needed to conduct more work in preparation for Toshao Elections at the time. For this reason, the Minister added that the audits, which began on July 2, aimed to improve accountability within communities for future elections.
The lack of accountability, Allicock added, was a great weakness in Indigenous communities and is another reason for the Ministry’s extensive audit.
Among the 18 villages included in audit’s first phase were Orealla, Jawalla, Kurukubaru and Wowetta.
According to the Minister, the idea of the audits was to satisfy the concerns of residents as well as to provide a clear understanding of communities’ financial situations, so that the new village councils would know how to function.
Following last year’s meeting of the NTC, Kaieteur News had spoken to a number of Toshaos who related that they were dissatisfied with the overall results of the four-day symposium. The Indigenous community leaders detailed that they were prohibited from asking many of their questions after various ministerial presentations from the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic-led administration.
Questions particularly concerning Indigenous Peoples’ land titles and mineral mining, were restricted from being asked.
An executive member of the National Toshaos’ Council, at the time, Clyde Henry, had explained that many Indigenous villages around Guyana are being pressured into accepting mining operations from outside mining companies. According to Henry, these operations violated “ancestral lands” and were in direct violation of the 2006 Amerindian Act.
“When village members would request an extension of our traditional lands, we would find out that they already come with concessions that violate our claim,” said Henry.
“For those who are successful (in obtaining land) it causes problems because the land would now have two owners: the village and the miners.”
Land demarcation of Indigenous settlements, especially with regards to mining activity, has long been a contentious issue among leaders of these communities. Many Indigenous leaders and organisations have voiced concerns over the imposition of mining activity on their lands to government and the public over the years.
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