Those who have been following the saga of the Tobago Hill ponds would have been afforded a little light relief amid all the earnestness of the Budget debate last week. It would be recalled that Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai had categorized as “successful” a National Hinterland Secure Livelihood Project involving four aquaculture ponds in the Region One community of Tobago Hill. The ponds were supposedly stocked with hassar. However, when Stabroek News visited the village, it found four weed-filled ponds, and was told by the Toshao, Edmund Santiago, that there was no fish in them, and that the villagers were expected to travel out of the area to catch bigger hassar to put in them.
The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was not amused; a “specialist,” it said in a press release of somewhat chilly tenor, had corrected the “misconception” of the Toshao on the status of the project on many occasions. Well why, one wonders, with all this high level expertise at his disposal to assure him that what he thought he did not see was in actual fact there, did Mr Santiago (and presumably his fellow villagers) persist in the delusion that there were no fish in the ponds? The ministry was ready for that one. Mr Santiago, it averred, had been “advised by the aquaculture specialist that indeed it is difficult to physically see the hassars as this species are bottom dwellers.”
To illustrate the point that there really were plentiful hassar lurking in the depths, the ever complaisant GINA supplied a photo of a rather shell-shocked looking Toshao holding an even more shell-shocked looking fish. And so it should have been, since the last thought flitting across its piscine brain must have been why on earth it succumbed to the lure of GINA’s publicity, instead of remaining in the safety of the pond bottom with its numerous camera-shy companions. The ministry’s assurances aside, not everyone, it must be said, was convinced by the message of the photo. “The hassar looks like it came from a wax museum,” wrote one correspondent in this newspaper on Friday, while another wit suggested on our website that the Minister should microchip the hassar, since then she would always be able to find it when she needed it.
Levity aside, there are some serious issues involved. In a general sense, of course, it is the big ticket projects like Amaila which tend to be subjected to the most public scrutiny, while smaller hinterland ones usually escape the attention of our Georgetown-based system, both because of their inaccessibility and the fact that their Amerindian beneficiaries often lack the avenues available to coastal residents to obtain explanations or direct complaints to those who might take note. In the first place, one wonders who devised this particular project, and whether it was not just a case of an ‘expert,’ either local or otherwise, dreaming up something which the community could do to earn a living, and then imposing the idea. After all, for all their fishing skills, aquaculture is not a pursuit familiar to indigenous society, which may be why difficulties have been encountered in this instance. If that is so, then in order to ‘succeed’ it would need rather more sustained attention from the ministry and/or the region than it appears to have received.
Be that as it may, at the beginning of the project there was an aquaculture specialist here in the form of a VSO from the Philippines, who the ministry in its release said had conducted sessions in fish cultivation and had provided technical advice and support to the village council and local fish farmers. The ministry went on to say that there had been an approved extension of six months to her contract, to ensure the beneficiaries were trained to manage the programme. However, as we reported on Thursday, SN was told that the VSO had left after a long, frustrating wait for her contract renewal by the ministry, despite the fact that she had indicated her preparedness to continue working with the Tobago Hill Village Council. That, unfortunately, sounds like a very familiar story, and presumably there will be no explanation forthcoming at this stage as to why the authorities dawdled so long over the contract renewal. This raises the question of whether they intended to renew the contract at all, and if not, why not?
Following our initial report, Mr Santiago told this newspaper earlier last week that the Region One administration had undertaken to assist Tobago Hill in developing the fish farm, and that Regional Vice-Chairman Fermin Singh had said the region would also help the village out with fuel supplies for the journey to the Shell Beach area where the farmers were to obtain the fish. So much for the ministry’s shoals of hassar dwelling unseen to human eyes at the bottom of the Tobago Hill ponds.
As for Toshao Santiago, he must have received his first rough lesson in the labyrinthine world of coastal politics. He had spoken to our reporter frankly, telling him what he knew, and in short order thereafter found himself in front of a camera holding a fish with the aim of demonstrating that what he had been reported as saying was really not the case – that he had been contributing to the “misleading” reports, as the release put it. All one can say is just what did the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs think it was doing, publicly trying to torpedo the credibility of a straightforward village leader in such a crass fashion? The fact that most readers will believe the Toshao rather than the ministry might not be a consolation to Mr Santiago; he must still feel humiliated given the photo and the press statement. The ministry conveniently forgets too, that it was not the Toshao who said anything about the weed-choked ponds; that was something our reporter saw with his own eyes. It might be noted that the photos of the ponds which GINA issued last week had been taken at the beginning of the project, and did not represent their condition when our reporter saw them.
As it is, the message which has now been sent out loud and clear to Amerindian villages everywhere, is that when the Minister deems a project successful, she must not be contradicted. And by extension, perhaps, nothing the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs says should be contradicted. All Toshaos and their councillors should take note. However, it is perhaps worth reminding the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs that the free speech article in the constitution is not intended for coastal residents alone; it applies equally to Amerindians. It is, in short, not for the ministry to dictate what Toshaos or any hinterland resident, for that matter, should say to the press in good faith.
Furthermore – and this is a practical point applicable to government projects across the board – if there are problems with a project, then it should not be glibly described as ‘successful,’ because clumsy attempts to obscure the truth will inevitably fail. If in the first instance the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs had admitted there were difficulties with the fish farm at Tobago Hill, it wouldn’t have got itself tied up in all these knots bringing itself into disrepute in the process, and feeding doubts about its veracity.
For all of that, one certainly hopes that, always presuming the project is viable, it takes off and proves a source of income for the villagers. For that to happen, however, the attitude of the ministry has to change, and rather than denigrating the village officials who manage the community, their co-operation should be solicited in addressing the modalities of the programme. Bullying is not the recommended approach to produce optimum results where development projects are concerned.
