Politicians must address concerns of Indigenous People

Aug 19, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The indigenous Amerindian people have a lot of issues that need to be urgently addressed by politicians. They complain that they have been marginalized, neglected, exploited, and abused by successive governments for the longest while. This is one of the findings of an opinion poll conducted by me for the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) in recent weeks.
Traveling around the hinterland reveals there is very limited development of Amerindian communities; there are limited opportunities for uplifting lives in the hinterland. The native people say they are recipients of a paucity of resources and that they are mostly remembered during election times when politicians suddenly find some resources to give them to “buy votes”. Amerindians further complain that they get a pittance of what they need and that opportunities are not easily available for them to live a decent standard of living like their counterparts on the coast. Respondents say that while some hinterland areas get more resources than others, the overall amount of assistance received from government sources is not adequate to address basic needs. The hinterland is largely undeveloped and communities need maximum government help to transform lives.
Some Amerindians complain that they are often insulted when they seek assistance from government sources. Officers of agencies ridicule them.
Most indigenous people are left to fend for themselves in the hinterland areas. According to the poll, Amerindians complain that governments have not addressed core issues facing the indigenous peoples such as land tenure, market opportunities for their products, costs of goods coming from the coast or major towns, as transportation costs to move around from village to villages and to the hinterland towns and or the coast, saturated markets, prohibitive costs of their products, among others. Respondents say governments also needs to address rising alcoholism, native languages, pollution of the hinterland caused by mining, mental health, substance abuse, medical issues, unemployment, poverty, violence, sexual exploitation, liquor and substance abuse, among others.
The poll’s findings reveal high incidence of poverty and unemployment and varied other non communicable diseases. There are also complaints of inadequate resources to address their needs and increasing land dispossession due to rights given to exploitative miners due to varied abuses of liquor and substances.
A significant amount of the indigenous peoples endorse the political party founded by former Toshao and deputy chair of the National Toshao Council Mr. Lennox Shuman who launched the Liberty and Justice Party earlier this year. Shuman is committed to helping the indigenous people become elected at the next elections. Many express confidence that he would address their concerns. Shuman’s party could make major in roads in the Amerindian communities especially if he were to get resources to fund his campaign.

Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

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