The opposition PPP/C yesterday voiced concern at the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference being held just mere days before the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) also holds its Biennial Congress in the capital city and suggested that it was strategically engineered to amass numbers at the political party’s forum.
“You may or may not be aware that the National Toshaos Council Conference was originally slated to be held in July for one week. It was shifted to August 22nd to August 26th and this happens to be highly coincidental in that the council’s meeting is at the same time or at the beginning of the PNC Congress,” PPP/C’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira told a news conference at Freedom House yesterday.
“We have information that the government has used the opportunity of the NTC conference to be able to swell its ranks at the PNC Congress,” Teixeira added.
However, Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs Sydney Allicock dismissed the opposition’s assertions, while saying it was probably borne of its own experiences when it was in office.
“To be honest, every group or every person has the right to express their imagination and that is the work of the opposition. They will look for every little thing that would look suspicious. I believe in the old saying, ‘No thief man never like to see another man walking with a bag.’ So, I would have been happy to hear them say something like, ‘It is good that they are coming because we are here and we would like to see the indigenous people so we too can share some of our ideas,’ like what they would have done the last time during elections,” he said.
“We brought out the people and they were the ones who separated them from their hotels, took them to bars, gave them liquor to drink and start to paint such a terrible picture of us. But we didn’t come out and decry them because if the leaders wanted to have that sort of interaction, that was their right. But, eventually, all that was said came back to us. I think the time has come where the indigenous people should not be treated like that; that is totally disrespectful, they must have that respect to know that although we are simple people, we are not stupid. What was said was said. I can only laugh because I am from the hinterland… we can do without those things,” Allicock added.
At the PPP/C news conference, Teixeira even charged that the Transport and Harbours Department’s schedule for vessels plying the North West route was changed from Saturday to Wednesday to also accommodate the congress.
“All of a sudden, you now hear it’s from August the 22nd. We have information. We do know that the government is paying to bring people to the NTC and the NTC has a budget as well and that accommodation will continue for a number of areas until Monday…that would be until the 30th of August,” Teixeira said.
“The monthly ferry that goes to Mabaruma…where people on both sides clock themselves to be able to be travel on this ferry… however there was an announcement that the ferry which was scheduled for Saturday has been changed to Wednesday. Therefore, this means that, and this is conjecture and you can criticise this speculation that we have come to, and that is to facilitate delegates and observers coming from Region 1…so that they will be well and freshened up for Friday, the big opening of the Congress,” she added.
But Junior Minister of Public Infra-structure Annette Ferguson yesterday rubbished Teixeira’s suggestions as false. “The ferry schedule was never shifted to accommodate any congress so the accusations are erroneous,” Ferguson told Stabroek News.
Teixeira was joined by fellow parliamentarians Pauline Sukhai and Yvonne Pearson and the trio lamented policies implemented by government for Amerindians, while saying they are not enough and consultations have been lacking.
The three PPP/C Members of Parliament also used the press conference to publicly query the current status of the land titling for Amerindian villages and government’s programmes for the hinterlands. “There is nothing new in 2016,” Pearson said.
She was backed by Sukhai, a former Amerindian Affairs Minister, who added, “There is a deafening silence on what are the big ticket projects that will come on stream.”
Teixeira also wants government to reveal the location of some 600 solar panels, ordered and received by her government. “600 65Watts solar panels…we are calling on the government to hand them back,” she said.
