President reassures solar panels will be distributed, land titling, demarcation to continue - despite challenges
Georgetown, GINA, August 8, 2012 -- Source - GINA
Amerindian leaders are demanding greater involvement of communities in major contractual undertakings and have chronicled a number of unresolved issues to President Donald Ramotar and his Cabinet on day three of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) meeting.
A plea was made on behalf of residents of Capoey for them to be involved in the Amaila Falls Hydropower access road project while, the newly elected Toshao of Mainstay/ Whyaka Joel Pearson bemoaned the fact that villagers are not employed in the project to upgrade the airstrip in the area.
Meanwhile concerns about the quality of work on some projects in the hinterland prompted President Ramotar to reinforce the mandate for villages and communities to obtain and peruse details of contracts awarded to their areas.
“You… have to ensure that you see what the government is paying for and you ensure that you get what the government is paying for to enhance the quality of service in your community,” President Ramotar said.
President Donald Ramotar interacting with Toshaos on day three of the National Toshaos Council Conference at the Guyana International Conference Centre
Budget cuts and Amerindian projects
Solar panels
The President and his ministers responded to questions from the Toshaos about the arrival of solar panels for the hinterland electrification project which is expected to supply 11,000 home systems. This process began late last year and over 1720 were distributed with 8,000 planned for this year.
The panels have been procured and the Office of the Prime Minister has fulfilled its mandate in distributing a few to some communities but, the Toshaos are concerned over the pace at which the process is moving.
President Ramotar who reassured toshaos at the opening ceremony of the NTC on August 6 that the project will move ahead as planned was prompted to explain the delay.
“It (solar panel project) could have been faster but it was not helped by the cuts that we had in the budget that slowed us down… I promise you that you will get, I can’t promise you exactly when but, it is here and all the villages will have the solar panels.”
President Donald Ramotar responding to questions posed by Toshaos in the presence of former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai
The government recently laid before the parliament a (motion/bill) seeking to reinstate the $21B cut from the 2012 National Budget by what many termed a vengeful act by the opposition political parties using their one seat majority. The solar panels project is one that has been affected by the budget cuts.
Thursday (August 9) is slated to be the defining day when the motion will be either accepted or rejected and, according to President Ramotar, sincerity will be put to the test. The Toshaos are however, asking whether there is an alternative plan if the Opposition fails to support it.
Toshao of Itabac, Region Eight, William Peters is pleading for good sense to prevail but fears that prolonged discrepancies in the Parliament will influence Amerindians to follow the trend of disunity.
Land titling, demarcation
Several Toshaos are also anxiously awaiting the land titling and extension exercise for which $18.3B from the anticipated forest carbon funds has been earmarked. Villages like Nappi that have been approved in the first year of the land titling and demarcation process now have to wait much longer because of the budget cuts.
Prior to the budget cut scenario the Government had to put up with delays in the release of the funds from US$70M deposited in the Guyana REDD + Investment Fund (GRIF) that the country earned through a forest carbon partnership agreement with the Government of Norway.
The impasse had been ongoing for almost one year because of bureaucracy in the international financial institution, the World Bank, and the Government last year had to commit money from the national treasury as an alternative to procuring the solar panels.
A section of the gathering in the Guyana International Conference Centre on day three of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) meeting
It is the government’s intention to install solar panels in all communities in the hinterland to facilitate electricity generation and the idea of solar pumps at every well was mooted by newly elected Toshao of Nappi, Guy Fredericks.
President Ramotar on Monday announced that a pact with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will see a sum of $1.5B covering the cost of processing the 41 applications that have been made for the extension and demarcation.
With the reopening of schools in September, fast approaching, the Toshaos are concerned about the Linden protest and its implication on the flow of necessary resources to their villages.
The new school term will see students occupying a new secondary school at Sand Creek, Region Nine that comes with a dorm to house 1000 Amerindian students from catchment areas within the Region.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand promised to look into the many challenges facing hinterland schools like in Moraikobai where a head teacher is absent and performance at exams has shown a slight decline.
Universal access to primary education has been achieved and access at the secondary level is within reach.
