The five nominees proposed by the National Toshaos Council (NTC) and Amerindian organisations to sit on the Indigenous Peoples Commission (IPC) were approved by the National Assembly yesterday.
These are Toshaos Yvonne Pearson, Doreen Jacobis and Marco De Souza; and David James and Matilda Saigo.
The parliamentary parties gave their full support. Speaking on the motion to approve the appointments, Chairperson of the Committee of Appointments, Gail Teixeira said the committee has come a far way on the IPC. “We feel that this is a very, very important movement by the committee; that it was done with no acrimony in the last meeting, that we had, in fact the government side had a minority representation and the opposition was in full support,” she said.
The committee has agreed that the other entities to nominate one person each as members of the IPC are the Amerindian Research Unit of the University of Guyana, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, the Private Sector Commission, the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, the Ministry of Health and the Guyana Council of Churches. With the approval of the House, these entities will be given three weeks to respond and “we therefore hope that we will be able to return to this house in the near future to be able to move to the final stage of the nomination process of the IPC so that this commission can be appointed,” Teixeira said.
In supporting the motion, PNCR MP Dr George Norton said that despite some impasses there was always a determined effort to arrive at a consensus. In this light he said the PNCR felt that if more than five persons are nominated by the entities, they can outvote the five members nominated by the indigenous peoples NGOs and the NTC. “The argument was that this being an indigenous peoples commission then the least one would expect is that the members nominated by the indigenous peoples themselves should be in the majority or at least equal to the members nominated by the non-indigenous entities,” he said. Norton recalled that the PPP felt that the Constitution provides for up to ten persons and therefore the committee should consult with at least ten entities. An impasse resulted but they compromised to consult with seven entities and the number of entities should equal the number of persons to be nominated as members of the commission.
He added that there was some amount of compromise as well regarding selection of the entities. He said the PNCR had some difficulties in agreeing with the number of ministries listed as entities.
There was hardly any controversy regarding the nominees, Norton continued.
In wrapping up, Teixeira lauded the work of the committee pointing to the compromises. She expressed hope that the entities they now have to consult will submit their nominees with speed so they can return to the House and therefore the third human rights commission could be appointed.
She said she hoped that this year they will complete all the human rights commissions and the secretariat will be set up.
