Every Amerindian community has been touched by development under PPP - Minister Anthony

During a recent outreach to Region Nine, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, noted the extreme change in quality of life being experienced in Amerindian communities in the last two decades, and posited that this is testimony to the PPP/C Government’s commitment to development.

Minister Anthony led a team to communities of Sawariwau, Katoonarib, Shiriri, Quiko, St Ignatius and Parishara, between July 19 to 21, as part of a government outreach to the communities.

Residents at the meeting in Quiko, Region Nine

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Ganga Persaud, Minister within that Ministry Norman Whittaker and the Permanent Secretary Collin Croal, visited different sections of the region addressing residents’ concerns.

“I honestly believe that over the years of the PPP/C, that every community in this country would have been touched by development…the condition under which the villagers lived were quite different from what it is now and that is  testimony to the development and how far we would have come,” Minister Anthony told residents.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony speaks with a resident in Katoonarib

He admitted that whilst it is true that no community at present has everything, development however,  has come a long way..

He pointed out that in every village there are Government buildings and basic services in every shape and form. “It is a testimony to the Government’s  commitment to development,” he said.

Opposition working against development

He said that even as Government strives to put more projects in place in the Amerindian communities and across the country, they face the challenge of the Opposition in Parliament,  that is putting up road-blocks to stymie development, with the objective of making Government look bad to the people.

Outlining the Opposition’s behaviour in Parliament, from the Budget cuts to their latest obstructions, Minister  Anthony declared, “the Opposition when they believe that there is a project that perhaps would make the PPP look good, what they do is to combine their efforts and vote down the project and prevent development. ”

Residents of Parishara at the meeting in the community centre ground

The Minister noted that these were the same people who would have come at some point to the communities and told residents, ‘we have your interest at heart.’

He questioned if indeed this is the case, how it is that they go to Parliament and vote against the interest of the same people.

He said, “It is one thing to say something and the other thing is your action and when you judge them by their actions, they have been working against the interest of the people of this country.”

He noted specifically, how the Opposition’s actions have been affecting the Amerindians, highlighting the instance of the Presidential Grant.      “Since 2010 was the last time we get Presidential Grant and why? It is not that we do not put it into the budget?  It is there every year, but what happens? They cut it out.”

He pointed out that such actions only hurt the people not the PPP/C. “Not because you want to play politics, you are going to play politics with everybody’s lives in this country. It cannot be like that. There must be responsible political behaviour because if you are not responsible then you are going to undermine all the development that we would have had in this country,” he said.

Minister Anthony noted this was the case under the PNC, when during that period things were difficult as that administration mis-management the affairs of the country. He said persons tend to forget this, in light of the steady, confident growth and development of the country over the past 20 years under the PPP/C.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony with residents in Shiriri, Region Nine

“We have to remember those things because this is how they would have mismanaged the country…Today they are trying again, a different form of mismanagement by blocking the monies that should be allocated to the communities. They are trying to undermine development in our communities and we have to be very careful with them.”

He said the country needs  to be aware of the danger of the Opposition’s behaviour as it affects Guyana’s potential to compete with the rest of the world. “Every step of the way that they get, they are trying to block development and this cannot be right because we are not living in a vacuum. We are not living in an isolated community. We are living in a world and countries have to compete with each other and if we cannot get priories right, we cannot get ourselves focused on certain things that can be good for the entire country, then we would not be able to compete with the rest of the world

…We would not be able to compete with them and that is not because we do not have the ability; that is not because we do not have resources, it is because we have a ‘crab in a barrel’ kind of mentality. We want to pull down each other instead of trying to move forward, trying to work together for the good of our country.”

He urged that residents help to safeguard all that government has put in place for their growth and development.

During the meetings, Minister Anthony also told the communities of the Ministry’s plan to develop and promote the Amerindian dialects by creating a competition, whereby competitors will be asked to enter a song composed strictly in Amerindian dialect.

He explained that this initiative will help to  keep the languages alive. “There is a place for it but we have to create the environment to keep it alive.”