Former Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai yesterday expressed her concerns about the dismissal of 1,972 Amerindians previously employed as Community Support Officers (CSOs) under the Youth Entre-preneurship and Apprenticeship Programme (YEAP).
Speaking to reporters at a press conference held at Freedom House, Sukhai expressed her support for the court case which has been filed by Peter Persaud, President of The Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana (TAAMOG) challenging the dismissals.
The YEAP Project came into being in June 2013 when in excess of 15,000 young Amerindians were engaged in a number of areas such as education, mining, health and forestry.
According to the former minister, “the team from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) who directly engaged with indigenous sector will stand out very strong… [against] denying 1,972 young Amerindians… the opportunity to be engaged meaningfully, enhance their skills and capabilities, willingly contribute to village developments, deny[ing] them their stipend of $30,000 per month, denying their family and children, particularly those who were single parents and were depending on…[the] stipend to assist them.”
The former minister declared that it was one of the worst travesties that had occurred in the history of this country with respect to indigenous people.
She said a budget of $720M was denied to CSOs last year and the government had a very difficult time in advancing the court matter as it related to the budget cut, but was eventually able to pay the young people monies owed for their services.
She said that the National Toshaos Council (NTC) will be meeting tomorrow and it was in the 100 day plan of the coalition government to depoliticize the NTC. “They have not depoliticized that council but rather emasculated and hijacked it”, asserted Sukhai.
She also expressed her dissatisfaction with the fact that many Toshaos have not been formally invited to the meeting. According to her the Amerindian Act itself prescribes procedures for this; “in fact, part 4 clause 43, 1 to 4c clearly details how this is done,” she said.
She went on to say that under the 10 years of the PPP engagement with the NTC there was respect on both sides, as well as cooperation and advice on the importance of indigenous affairs.
