Ms. Janki is seeking to mislead Amerindian People

Mar 27, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor

Kaieteur News – I refer to SN article dated 22.03.2023 title Carbon credits deal violates constitutional rights of Amerindians – Melinda Janki. Yet again another commenter has added to the much debate on Guyana’s Forest Carbon Credit. She joins her colleagues Janet Bulkan, the AFA and Nichloas Fredericks among a few others that are trying to mislead Amerindians by uttering falsehoods and seek to take bread away from my Amerindian brothers and sisters. Before venturing into the meat of the discussion may I ask Ms. Janki what are the options to gain more benefits to Amerindian people, do you have a proposal.

The VP is on record on saying whoever has a better proposal for the benefit of Amerindian people, the Government will consider. I have seen none, the Amerindians have seen no other than this carbon trading scheme, but perhaps one is coming from you.
It seems that sleeping beauty has arisen or the dead has come to life. First it was the APA and their conspirators. Now is our learned legal adviserm Ms. Melinda Janki. May I ask where you currently reside, I rather suspect like others it’s not in the interior of Guyana but some other destination enjoying a bountiful dinner of steak
and wine while others depend on labba curry and rain water. I am not surprise.

Ms. Janki article is grossly incorrect, misleading and not factual and her interpretation of the Amerindian Act 2006 on Carbon Rights is misguided, misplace and incorrect. I am calling on her to state specifically which sections of the ACT precludes or prevent the Government or Entity such as the GFC from engaging in
Carbon Trading for the entire Guyana including Amerindian Communities.

May I ask what would have been the response of Ms. Janki and the other previous commentators had the Government excluded all lands held by Amerindian in the ART TREES Carbon scheme, and therefore no monies would have been allocated or earned by the villages. You would have heard screams of discrimination and that the Government does not have the interest of Amerindians at heart and a plethora of nasty comments in the opposite to what is being said now. And mind you the Government using State lands and State Forest will still qualify under jurisdictional scale carbon credit under the ART TREES standard so make no mistake Government can choose to exclude or not exclude Amerindian lands. But is this the responsible thing to do i.e to exclude Amerindians Again she is misleading the public in thinking there was no consultation among villages.

She contends the Village Council must give approval. Can she state which village and circulate a copy of the village minutes of the communities that have withheld approval or and have rejected the carbon trading arrangement. This is the least she can do to back up her article. The same argument APA and others were barking up and today not one single iota of evidence to the contrary has been provided I am thus calling on HE President Dr. Irfaan Ali to reject Ms. Janki letter of March 22 until she and others like the APA can produce the facts.

Regards
Peter Persaud
TAAMOG