Guyana Chronicle top story, Thursday March 6th 2008 -
'STOP IT!'
- Rodrigues slams opposition, calls for end to stigma against Amerindians
By Neil Marks
AMERINDIAN Affairs Minister, Ms Carolyn Rodrigues, yesterday slammed
opposition Parliamentarians for referring to state provisions to Amerindian
communities as "handouts", saying such utterances further drives the stigma
attached to Amerindian people.
'We must stop that and stop it today!" Rodrigues declared during her
presentation to the National Assembly in defence of the 2008 national
budget. Witnessing the debate was a large group of hinterland students on a
city tour.
"Why do we refer to it as handouts when we give to Amerindian communities,
and when we give to other communities it is not called handouts?" she
charged.
She further knocked the opposition for suggesting that the Amerindian people
live in oppression. "Freedom is what we know...freedom is when we can send
our children to school," she stated.
Rodrigues, an Amerindian herself, was sharp on her heels as she picked apart
the arguments of the main opposition People's National Congress Reform
(PNCR) - from a bridge crossing and a student's hostel to cassava bread and
outboard engines.
However, it was the claim by PNCR Member of Parliament (MP), Ms Volda
Lawrence that cutting the 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on cassava
bread, farine, and casareep, would not significantly affect the life of
Guyanese that Rodrigues said "hurt the most."
She said these items are primarily associated with Amerindians, and by
cutting VAT on these items, the government was looking to create economic
opportunities for Amerindians.
She displayed a brochure of North West Organics, an organisation of
Amerindians producing organic products for sale. She said the products of
North West Organics, such as casareep, are being sold on supermarket
shelves.
&#xI hope it was an innocent mistake," she said of Lawrence's suggestion,
and at this juncture, the Speaker, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, had to ask the House
to "cool it, cool it", as members on both sides of the benches slew remarks
at each other.
Rodrigues' other arguments were sharp as she picked up specific claims by
the opposition.
She first snapped at speculation that the bridging of the Echilebar river,
which separates Regions Eight and Nine, has not yet commenced, when in fact,
the project contract was awarded last December at a cost of $10M.
The Amerindian Affairs minister also called a list of contractors from
hinterland regions, putting to rest claims that hinterland projects are
often outsourced to contractors from outside the region.
She did admit that transportation problems have forever plagued the
hinterland regions, but said the government was moving ahead with its aim to
ease the transportation woes of hinterland residents.
She said five more All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) will be given to the
mountainous Potaro/Siparuni region this year, adding to the five which were
given earlier this year.
Rodrigues also announced plans to acquire two boats to help communities in
the Berbice river get their produce out to New Amsterdam, as the smaller
boats cannot do the job.
Several other communities will receive boat and engines - the sort of items
the opposition called "handouts."
Turning to another PNCR Member of Parliament, the minister lashed out at Mr.
Anthony Veira for suggesting that the government bunk the project to build
the $50M students' hostel in Georgetown to accommodate hinterland students
on scholarships at city schools.
She said the building would accommodate all the students together and help
the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to institute additional classes for them,
since this is not now possible given that the students have to be housed at
various locations.
Referring to questions about how many of the students from the hinterland
are attending Bishop's High School and other top schools, Rodrigues posited
that many of them were in fact at President's College and doing well.
Further flooring the arguments of the opposition, she said many parents in
the hinterland have chosen not to send their children to the city but have
chosen to send them to schools built in the hinterland.
Rodrigues said her Ministry has had discussions with the Ministry of
Culture, Youth and Sport to extend scholarships to those who excel in
sports, "if their parents want to send them."
She noted, too, that some 7, 111 hinterland children benefitted from the
government's uniform programme last year, while the school feeding programme
has seen an improvement in school attendance.
Also, she noted that 70 teachers from regions One, Seven, eight and Nine are
currently studying at the teacher's training centre at Turkeyen, East Coast
Demerara, while a further 200 are being trained in the various regions
through a distance programme.
Minister Rodrigues then went on to trump up the achievements of the
government in providing titles to the lands that Amerindians have for ages
lived on and off of.
In 2007, she said eight Amerindian communities received "absolute" grants to
their land, and with the 24 issued in the last three years, the total amount
of communities to receive such grants now amounts to 96.
Nine other communities have made claims to have their grants, she added,
noting that the budget has allocated $40M to continue the demarcation
programme.
She said around the world, indigenous land claims has been a thorny issue,
and while Guyana does not claim to have the prescription to settle land
claims, she said other countries can certainly learn a few lessons.
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