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I did not attend the 2025 Toshaos Conference
Dear Editor,
I have taken note of and strongly condemn the false and malicious statements published by Kaieteur News and shared by the Amerindian Peoples Association on social media on May 3, 2026, regarding an alleged engagement involving me at the 2025 National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference.
The publication states that “the Toshao expressed frustration over being “attacked” with these allegations during the last National Toshaos Council (NTC) meeting, specifically citing a confrontation with Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira.”
In the interest of setting the record straight from the outset, I did not participate in the meetings or proceedings of the 2025 NTC Conference due to other official commitments. The records of the 2025 NTC Conference will reflect the same.
The only activity in 2025 which Toshao Marshall attended at my invitation was an annual breakfast meeting, which I convene for Toshaos and councillors from Indigenous villages and Community Development Councils within Region Seven, which I represent as the Government’s Geographic Member of Parliament for Region Seven.
This engagement is not part of the National Toshaos Council Conference. In fact, over the past few years, this breakfast meeting has become an important strategic opportunity outside of the NTC Conference for village leaders from the region to advance their concerns and ideas regarding development, governance and livelihoods within their communities.
In the interest of transparency, the matters raised by Toshao Marshall during the breakfast meeting focused specifically on requests for training for village leaders on social issues, the process for gazetting district councils to ensure compliance with the Amerindian Act 2006, calls for greater community participation in infrastructural development initiatives, and concerns relating to transportation costs and the cost of living within her village, including a request for a dedicated aircraft to move goods and people within her district.
Notwithstanding her stated priorities, there were numerous other wider discussions among the leaders related to the advancement of education, healthcare and social services. However, attempts to now misconstrue good-faith discussions about development challenges, governance matters, and community participation as personal “attacks” at the NTC Conference are maliciously false.
Again, I did not participate in the 2025 NTC Conference, so I can only assume that the Toshao is referring to group discussions at my annual Region Seven breakfast meeting.
Finally, I reiterate that there was no confrontation nor “attack” at this event in front of more than 25 other witnesses, including approximately 20 other Toshaos and councillors. Why wait almost one year to raise such an allegation? Is this a calculated attempt at attention-seeking and targeting?
Regards,
Hon. Gail Teixeira, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance
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