Toshaos call for more jobs, sustainable livelihood programmes

Jul 14, 2022 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Amerindian village leaders in Georgetown for the five days National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference have called on the Government of Guyana to ease the doling out of one-off-cash grants to their communities and instead focus on financing business ventures to help their youths become sustainable.

On Wednesday, this newspaper visited the Arthur Chung Conference Center and spoke with a few village leaders at the conference, who related that they would love to see government fund business ventures to help boost their communities.

A Community Development Council (CDC) Chairman for Blackwater, Region One, Mr. Norbert Abrams told this publication that he would like to see government develop projects, especially in the agricultural sector to help promote jobs. For instance, he said, “We could have some chickens or something sent in to help us start a business and that could really help out a lot because you know the cost of living right now.”

Toshao for Whitewater Village Region Nine, Mr. Deon Adams said: “The government is doing a lot right now but we would like if they could help us out with some loans or grants in the village. There are a lot of young people who finish school and just can’t get jobs so it would be good if they could help us with that.”

Another Toshao from Four Miles Village Region One, Royston Bumbury said that the former government had removed cash grants but since the new government took office, he has seen a return of school children cash grants however, when it comes to programs to help start jobs in his community, there has not been any move in this direction. “Except like for small projects, Presidential grants were given to villages and with those grants we proposed whatever and we work with that and that’s about it. Not many residents would benefit, yes they would benefit like if we do a village shop, yes residents benefit but in terms of jobs there is a very poor job system,” he shared.

A Toshao from Waipa, Region Eight, Mr. Terrence John also said that such programs are lacking to help start jobs but noted, “Probably we didn’t propose for it that’s why we are not getting it. I am the new Toshao and I don’t have this type of experience we could see that this new government really help move contracts and so on fast and that’s what I can say only.”

Development, not hand-outs

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Mervyn Williams, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) said Toshaos had complained to him about President Irfaan Ali’s feature address where he boasted of the “mesmerizing” sums spent to date by his government to develop their communities. During the Leader of the Opposition’s weekly press conference, Williams raised the issue, explaining that the government has been pumping funds into every other area that does not directly benefit the lives of the Amerindian people.

In fact, he shared that specific projects that were targeted at training youths and aiding in business development have been scrapped by the administration.  According to him, “If you follow Mr. Ali’s train of thought in that opening ceremony as some Toshaos have gotten back to me and said, look this man is talking as if elections are the next two or three months from now. This man is on a campaign trail. It’s all about how much money he is giving out. How much money he has doled out, how much money his government has spent.”

Williams argued, “That is not how you measure your performance. You measure your performance by solid success stories, output. So this doling out of money is really taking away the dignity of the Indigenous Peoples…we would just give you some money so that you are comfortable and then we get to preach to you about how much money we have given you over time.”  He said that Amerindian village leaders are fearful of speaking out against these matters because they believe the promises made would not be fulfilled if they took a stand.

The Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton chimed in, explaining that he believes the NTC Conference should have been used a forum to discuss how the government contributes to sustainable Indigenous communities, however he said the agenda is aimed at the opposite rather than promoting small businesses and other development activities.  In fact, he told members of the media that his visits to Indigenous communities have proven that internet hubs that were set up by the former government were shut down, while others that remained open were restricted to Amerindians.

To this end, Williams noted, “there has been a departure unfortunately from what happened between 2015 and 2020 where villages had embarked on first of all the Hinterland employment and youth services program which prepared persons, trained persons and provided persons with tools and financial resources to start those businesses. That program has been shut down after having created more than 2500 jobs through small businesses and after having trained just about that number of young Indigenous peoples.”

 

 

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