Maicobie residents blame village leaders for mismanagement …seek intervention of Amerindian Affairs Minister

Maicobie residents blame village leaders for
mismanagement …seek intervention of Amerindian Affairs Minister
Kaieteur News, 24 October 2007
As Toshaos from around the country meet at a National Conference, all
may not be well with the Councils of some Amerindian villages.

Some residents of Maicobie Village , Region Eight, are not pleased with
the way the Council is handling the financial affairs of the village
and as such are calling for the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to
conduct an audit.

Several villagers accused the village leaders of ‘doing their own
thing' with the village money.

One resident said that because of the poor management of the money,
each time there is need for funding within the village officials have
to get money from elsewhere.

“We have a village shop which sells things cheaper than the wholesale
businesses in Mahdia. I am not saying that villagers shouldn't get
things cheap but it is obvious that the shop has to make a profit to
finance itself. Every time stocks got to buy back for the shop they
have to go into the village savings to get money,” the resident said.

He added that some business people in the area will send to the shop
and purchase in large quantities and resell to make a profit because of
how cheap the items are at the shop.

“If a pack of milk is $500 in town, they will buy it and sell it back
up there for $600. So what business people are doing is buying out most
of the things because it cheaper for them rather than them going to
Georgetown and having to pay transportation cost on the items.

“ Maicobie Village shop selling milk for $600, while the wholesale
business people selling the same item for $800. We are not making any
profit and that is why every time the shop needs stocks money got to
come from the village savings,” the resident noted.

Another resident said that the Village Council decided to purchase a
Canter for the convenience of the village shop and residents but that
too is not serving its purpose.

“The village money buy the Canter but the vehicle is not even in the
Council name. It is in the name of one of the councilors. So if
anything happens that man can claim that it is his personal vehicle
because all the documentation is in his name,” the resident noted.

Additionally, he said that the vehicle can only travel up to a certain
point and the village has to hire another vehicle to transport the
items from the point where the Canter cannot.

“They bought the Canter and the vehicle can't go past a certain point
on the road. It don't have four-wheel drive. So what happening is that
the Canter bring the things from town and then the Village Council has
to hire a vehicle from the area to take the items from that point to
the village. This doesn't make any sense,” the resident noted.

One official from the Village Council contended that control of the
village's finance is in the hands of the Captain.

“Only select people getting access to the money. The Minister has (to
get involved in this matter) because what will happen is that future
generations in the village will have nothing,” the official said.

He noted that miners are given permission to work ‘everywhere and
anywhere' and ‘no development' is happening within the village.

“The craft centre suddenly turn into a village hotel for all the young
people. By the time these people finish with Maicobie nothing is left
for other generations to come.”

On Monday, Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, announced
that drastic measures will be taken against leaders of Amerindian
communities if it is found that villages are being ‘short changed'
because of the mismanagement of funds.

Rodrigues made the announcement during her address at the opening
ceremony of the National Toshaos Conference at the International
Conference Centre, Liliendaal.

She noted that in some communities there is positive development but
(in others there is) ‘bad' management, especially those that are well
endowed with natural resources.

In the Amerindian Act, there is a provision for the Minister of
Amerindian Affairs to arrange for a financial audit to be carried out
of a Village Council.

This can be done, according to the Act, by an independent auditor at
any time during a Village Council's term of office provided that the
Minister shall give the Village Council two weeks notice and provided
that audits shall not be carried out more frequently than annually,
unless requested by the Village general meeting or otherwise deemed
necessary.

The Minister, the Act states, shall give copies of the financial audit
to the Village Council and the National Toshaos Council, and the
Village Council shall call a Village general meeting immediately after
it receives the financial audit and shall make it available to the
Village general meeting.

The Act also states that a Village Council shall make the financial
audit and the general audit available to the Village general meeting
immediately upon receiving each audit.