Amerindian Affairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai revealed today that although there have been concerns raised about the handling of grants issued to Indigenous Villages under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), there is no evidence of the money being stolen.

“Out right theft of the money, I have no case before me at the moment,” Minister Sukhai told reporters at a press conference this morning.

Last year, 242 Indigenous Villages received a total of $4.7 billion in grants in addition to $35 million in supplementary funding under the Local Carbon Development Strategy.

It was explained that the funds were disbursed directly into the bank accounts of the respective Village Councils, and should be utilized in keeping with approved Village Sustainable Plans.

The expenditures are overseen by community members who form part of the Financial Management and Oversight Committees. 

However, Minister Sukhai said the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has received repeated complaints that “Toshaos are keeping the money” and not handing over the funds over to the Treasurers of the Councils.

“Yes, we have had instances where we have heard with no tangible evidence that toshao is keeping the money and he is not giving the treasurer. That is like a recurrent complaint that toshao is keeping the money and is not giving the treasurer. There is a little grey area there that we may have to look at later, because toshao is signatory to the bank account, not sure the treasurer is, and maybe that is why toshao may tend to want to hold onto the money,” the Amerindian Affairs Minister explained. 

Minister Sukhai said in other cases, Toshaos have been found to be spending the grants without notifying or updating the Village Council and or the Oversight Committee on the expenditures. 

“So, if they are building a guest house and they want to do the foundation, and they want to do the structure, what they would do is take a tranche. Toshao maybe the man keeping the money because he signed for it, and he would take it upon himself, because he has this document approved by the village, and go and purchase. Comes back, doesn’t give an account to the village, to the village council or to oversight committee. Then there are internal wranglings that toshao spend out the money,” she explained. 

The Minister explained that in such cases, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has provided advice and guidance on how to operationalize the system of expending funds, and the importance of reporting both to the Village Council and the Oversight Committee. (Svetlana Marshall)

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