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Walter Roth Museum relocation on hold
The Walter Roth Museum on Main Street, Georgetown.
No decision will be made on the relocation of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, until consultations have been had with the museum staff and stakeholders, including the leaders of the 212 Indigenous villages.
Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, gave this assurance as he was addressing the question of the museum’s relocation, during his engagement with the indigenous leaders yesterday morning at the National Toshaos Council (NTC) meeting at the Arthur Chung International Convention Centre, Liliendaal.
The NTC annual meeting is the biggest forum for Amerindians to air their concerns.
“What I have done is I have asked the President (David Granger) to put the question of the movement of the Walter Roth Museum on hold until I have had an opportunity to discuss the matter more thoroughly with the people, the anthropologists, the toshaos and so on,” Minister Roopnaraine said.
His announcement, according to a Government release, was met with loud applause from the indigenous leaders.
The Minister assured the Amerindian leaders that the matter is one that is at the heart of his very own family.
The Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology contains a wealth of historic information and artifacts about the Amerindian people with the aim of keeping the legacy of Guyana’s first people alive.
The Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP) had recently announced its decision to move the museum to the Guyana National Museum and to use the institution’s current Main Street location for one of its departments.
However, there were objections to the relocation, including from the Opposition.
During yesterday’s engagement, Patrick Gomes, Toshao of Maruranau Village, Region Nine decried the government’s decision to move the museum, on the grounds that the artifacts contained within were discovered hundred years ago, and many valuable pieces are likely not survive the relocation.
Gomes called on all the indigenous leaders present at the NTC to make a recommendation to the government that the museum remain at its present site, “because we do not want to lose our heritage and our connection to the past.”
The indigenous people need to “have that connection to the past, to know where we came from, where we are going and what we have,” Gomes noted.
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