In a campaign style, politically charged speech to the opening of the National Toshaos Conference this morning, President Irfaan Ali compared development and gains in the indigenous communities under his current Government and previous PPP governments to those under the APNU+AFC coalition government, which came out of office four years ago.

Highlighting land rights, more budgetary funding for indigenous communities and a number of programmes and initiatives aimed towards the development of indigenous communities, the President told the conference that those communities can expect much more from his administration.

He said the indigenous communities will also benefit more from Guyana’s earnings from carbon credits.

“Because we are a government that believes in giving more and not less, we have taken a decision to allocate 26.5% of the earnings this year to you. Although the agreement is 15%, we do not want you to get less than what you had, we have increased the percentage for this year earning to 26.5%, ensuring that you will get no less than what you got last year, you will get US$23.2 million or $4.84 Billion in your villages, directly transferred to your villages”, the President said.

The President told the indigenous leaders that his government believes in them, as much as they believe in the government.

On the issue of land titling for indigenous communities, the President said more demarcation of land is being done to provide land titling to indigenous communities across the country.

“Under this administration, another almost 8700 Amerindians have legal title to their land. Just couple years ago, the period 2015 to 2020, nothing. We couldn’t do surveys during COVID, so we couldn’t go at the pace we want, yet we have 14 titles”, President Ali noted.

While praising the work of the National Toshaos’ Council, the President took aim at the Amerindian People’s Association, accusing the body of being political and not being true representatives of the Amerindian people of Guyana.

“The scholarship that was zero, that we brought back, with oil. The scholarship for indigenous people declined…and they say they love you. They say they are the champions of your rights, and in all of this, in the taking away of the grant, in the firing of CSOs, in the reduction from 80% to 40% in medical supplies, in the reduction of scholarships by 27.6%, where was the APA? Where was the voice of the APA? Where was this independent organisation? Where were their voices? Why were they silent? Why were they complicit? The only voice was the NTC who stood consistently”, Ali said.

The President encouraged the indigenous leaders at the conference to continue being the custodian of the hopes and dreams of the Indigenous people and the protector of their rights. He said his government will continue its work to better the lives of the nation’s indigenous communities.

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