Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira has accused the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs of being “frugal” in its provision of funds for the National Toshaos Council (NTC) despite a massive increase in the monies allocated to support local organisations.
The NTC, a semi-autonomous body comprising leaders from 212 indigenous villages across Guyana has for some time complained about the inadequacy of funding, the result of which has hindered the organisation in carrying out its mandate.
But even though the total allocation for support of local organisations has increased to $66M, the NTC will only receive an estimated $4M increase from its 2016 allocation of $12M.
The remaining $50M has been allocated to the Bina Hill Institute, located in the North Rupununi, according to Junior Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe.
This disclosure prompted Teixeira to question the rationale behind the $50M Bina Hill Institute subvention, saying that more funding could have been given to the NTC considering they represent the interests of all of the country’s Indigenous Peoples.
Bina Hill was formerly a part of the capital budget but has since been shifted to current expenditure.
“Can you Madam Minister explain why the NTC, which represents the legal interest of all Amerindian Villages is to receive 16M while the Bina Hill is receiving 50M when the NTC represents almost 200 villages?” Teixeira asked.
In response, Garrido-Lowe said, “Bina Hill focuses on education and our government believes that education is paramount and the Hinterland must not be left behind.”
An unsatisfied Teixeira continued her line of questioning by asking whether it is the Ministry’s belief that a legitimate representative of the Indigenous peoples of Guyana should be subjected to such a small increase.
“Why would the Ministry be so frugal in giving to a statutory body established under the Amerindian Act… you have 66M allocated already why not give them more? Why not allocate more generously than you have to the NTC,” Teixeira pressed on.
Garrido-Lowe at that point said, “Indeed the NTC is just as important to the Ministry, but we have to allocate according to the monies we have as we get more monies more will be given to these areas”.
Back in April, Vice-Chairman of the NTC, Lenox Shuman voiced his dissatisfaction with what he said was the inability of the body to discharge its mandate in matters such as land titling due to the lack of financing.
In a letter published in the Stabroek News, Shuman explained that at the conclusion of the NTC Conference in August of 2015, it was decided that special interest would be placed on specific areas which were deemed to be of utmost importance.
These included plans for an extension of the timeframe for the Amerindian Land Titling programme; a revision of the Amerindian Act of 2006, including the incorporation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and advancing the rights of women and gender balance.
However, Shuman stated that because of the financial restrictions placed on the committee’s budget, works in those areas were stymied.
“Of these resolutions, to date the NTC has been impeded by finances to have movement in any direction and thus hampering the NTC’s ability to meet its mandate under the Amerindian Act, or even to grow,” he said.
Elaborating on this, Shuman stated that the body had prepared a proposed budget of $38 million, however, less than half of that sum was approved for the council, thus putting it at a severe disadvantage to do any effective work.
Further, he said while the NTC is aware that alternative financing is available through other agencies, such as the Inter-American Development Bank to execute projects, the body does not have the necessary financial infrastructure to apply to those agencies for financial support. Because of this, Shuman opined that it places the NTC as the footstool of many other organisations that may want to take advantage of the committee to push their agenda.
Meanwhile, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock at that time had agreed that the 2016 budget did not allow for effective work to be carried out by the NTC.
However, he explained that the issue of restricted budgetary allocations is not peculiar to the NTC since the Ministry itself did not receive the amount it had proposed for 2016. He further stated that because of this, the Ministry has allowed the NTC to ‘piggyback’ on visits to the hinterland regions when it can and has asked that other ministries consider the same.
Nevertheless, Allicock noted that he remained hopeful that indigenous communities and by extension the Ministry would make better representation to have their projects approved in the 2017 budget. (Mariah Lall)
