Parliamentarian and environmental conservationist, Sydney Allicock, who was recently defeated as Toshao of the Annai Village Council, has pledged to work with the victor and hopes politicians will cease disrupting the traditionally peaceful way of life of Amerindians.
“Amerindian life is simple. People now have dragged the Amerindian community into a lot of hate and strife among the people… They have complicated their lives with much politics and promises. The villages are told of the good things they can get if they become affiliated with a party and they are gullible. We have to get back to honesty and simplicity as we also make strides in development,” Allicock told Stabroek News in a recent interview.
His views come against a background of controversy surrounding the recently held Toshao election in Region 9 and many feel that Allicock was cheated out of the leadership position because of misrepresentations spread throughout the villages. Five communities currently make up the Annai district, namely, Annai, Wowetta, Kwatamang, Rupertee and Surama, from which Allicock comes and where he currently lives.
The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian said the last election was the most heated in the villages’ history and he will not further add to the now dying furore by contesting the poll results. He informed that the elected Toshao, Mark George, is his friend and at this time his interests lie solely in helping George develop the region.
He stated that from the outset there was much misinformation, since during nomination, politicians, whose names he chose not to disclose, touted the lie that because he was a parliamentarian he could not also run for leader of the Amerindian community. Allicock said that he too was uncertain since he is only now becoming familiar with the complexities of being a politician and had to seek legal advice when he came to the city for a sitting of the National Assembly. He said he had to quickly relay this information to villagers and he was nominated in his absence.
On Toshao Election Day he was once again absent owing to parliamentary duties, and said this was used against him since persons informed voters that he could not be elected in his absence.
He said the persons from his village did not accept this and after their relentless questioning they were told that he could. He won 93 out of a total 97 votes in Surama and feels that if other villagers had been aware that he could have been elected in absentia he would now have been Toshao.
“The election wasn’t about Surama alone; many persons said that the other four villages were misinformed. Misinformation is rampant at the moment,” he said.
In addition, he continued, “political mudslinging,” an alien concept to Amerindians, became a great part of campaigning. “The elections got dirty; name-calling and character smearing without the main focus and that was on the development of the Amerindian communities and what can be done to help our people. So people got caught up in personal issues and not about community issues. It was sad to say the least.”
He blamed lack of local communication as the reason for the villagers’ misinformation. “We don’t have the media there [or] any local communication whatsoever. The news we watch via Sky TV is Brazilian; papers, if any, we see are Brazilian; we hear Brazilian radio. So I would say we are more linked to Brazil than Guyana, and it’s time for this to change,” Allicock said.
The man who served as Toshao from 1989-1994 said he has now put the past behind him as he looks to make the life of Rupununi villagers better.
“I am ready to help. I have lost the election and don’t want to cause any uproar of what happened or what should have happened. It‘s time to develop Rupununi. I congratulated Mark George who also used to be a Toshao and who is a good friend of mine. As far as I know he is non-partisan and he should be able to be a good leader, because he also had experience being a Toshao and I am there to be of help. I don’t want these Toshao elections blown out of proportion. It happened. I lost. Now we move on,” he said.
“We once believed in trust. A man came and said something [and] you believed him… that was how we lived. Now trust just won’t do it. You have to always get legal advice for everything because there is always conflicting information, lots of documentation and it’s just more stressful. We need simplicity again.”
