Residents of the indigenous community of Capoey in Region Two are calling on the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs as well as the regional administration, to conduct an audit of the Capoey village council. According to residents, the village council is supposed to conduct frequent meetings and this is not happening.
Residents who reached out to the media said that a meeting was held on January 23, where they requested an audit of the village’s cash book. They alleged that sand was being sold from the community, but payments were not passing through the village council. The village has a sand pit which is a revenue earner for the community. They said the issue was raised with Toshao Ralph Hendricks, but no positive answer was given. This newspaper tried to contact Hendricks for a comment, to no avail.
The residents claimed that truck drivers were visiting the area daily to purchase sand, but the checker was collecting the money. This practice, the villagers said, was not right since all money earned was supposed to pass through the council.
When contacted, the treasurer of the council said she had no knowledge of the sand money or who was collecting it.
During a village meeting, the residents said, they raised the issue of the cash book and were told by the toshao that it was at the regional administration office. Villagers said they then sent a petition to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, which was copied to the Region Two administration.
The village council was given up to February 28 to fix the cash book but to date, residents have not received any information about the outcome. In May, at a community meeting, residents raised concerns relating to the sale of sand from the community and the money not being accounted for. A decision was made for truck drivers to stop entering the village until the cash book was in order.
According to a resident, at an emergency meeting the Toshao asked for the truck drivers to enter the village for two weeks after which the systems would be put into place. The residents said that they are upset since it’s been a month and truck drivers continue to take sand out of the village without any accountability.
