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Amerindian Act likely to be amended
Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Vice President Sydney Allicock, during his appearance before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee yesterday, faced heavy scrutiny after making a disclosure that the Amerindian Act of 2006, is likely to be reviewed.
Former Minister of Amerindian Affairs and Member of the Committee and People’s Progressive Party/Civic Member of Parliament, Pauline Sukhai, questioned the Minister in the presence of his Technical Officers, to ascertain where the push was coming from to have the Act reviewed.
Former Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai
Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Vice President, Sydney Allicock
The Minister in response, told members of the Committee, that there was a call from the National Toshaos Council (NTC) and other groups across the country for the act to be reviewed, and the Ministry is currently in the process of gathering information. He added also, that the NTC has expressed the desire to have discussions on this matter during the NTC General Meeting/Conference which is expected to commence soon.
Attorney-at-Law and Legal Advisor to the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, David James, upon request by the Minister, expounded on the issue. He stated that the Ministry had received the call during its outreach programmes during the last year.
“In almost every village that we have visited, there have been calls for revision if not to the entire Act to certain aspects,” he added.
“For example, for the mining areas, there has been concerted requests, that certain provisions relating to mining such as Section 50, which deals with large scale mining should also be reviewed, revised and reformed to ensure that the full consent from indigenous peoples is obtained before large scale mining can proceed.”
He noted that the law currently provides for consent from Indigenous Peoples for small and medium scale mining. However, he added that the Ministry has already engaged the NTC in consultations and a consultant; a legal expert is currently providing advice on how to proceed with some of the amendments being proposed.
Sukhai requested that the Minister tell the Committee how many large scale mining was being conducted on Amerindian titled lands, because – according to her – she does not believe that there is tremendous large scale mining in any Amerindian settlement with the exception of ‘other types of mining’.
Attorney-at-Law and Legal Advisor to the Minster of Indigenous Peoples Affairs,
David James
The query was deflected to James, who stated that there was ‘none’. However, several communities, including Kamarang, have expressed their desire to have the power to give full consent across the board; not only to small and medium scale mining, but also, to large scale operations.
He acknowledged that the law states that if an Amerindian community withholds consent for large scale mining, the Minister of Indigenous Peoples and the Minister of Mining, can consent to mining in the village in the public‘s interest.
The law also provides for the Amerindian village to take the matter to the courts, if they oppose the granting of ministerial consent.
Meanwhile, the Minister said that the Ministry is engaged in a number of projects broken down into four main categories: Capital Projects of the Ministry; Amerindian Land Titling (ALT); Amerindian Development Fund (ADF); and the Hinterland Employment and Youths service (HEYS).
These projects he said are all geared to attend to the best interest of the indigenous people across Guyana and to focus on sustainable economical-typed activities among other things.
The Ministry currently has responsibility for over 212 villages and settlements throughout Guyana.
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