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National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) has finally found a voice to stand up to the Government’s persistent impositions and attempts to override the body’s decision. This is expressive of the growing frustration felt by Amerindians, and which is transforming little by little into their taking a stance against Government to defend their rights.
The National Toshaos’ Council is a semi-autonomous body, provisioned for by the Amerindian Act no. 6 – 2006, receiving funds from the Government of Guyana, with the Minister of Amerindian Affairs sitting as ex-officio member of the Council. The structure of the NTC and guidelines directing the functioning of the structure are set out by the Act. This is as political as the organisation gets. Neither the Minister nor the officials of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs ought to dictate the pronouncements of the NTC. Subsequently, that the NTC lashed out this week at the Government of Guyana for attempting to override its authority is legitimate.
In their statement on the said matter, the NTC indicated that an “official” of Government attempted to “manipulate its work”. The said “official” would have stated that s/he does “not respect the decision of 20 people in a room making decisions for all indigenous peoples in [over] 200 communities”. The recurrence of situations where elected Amerindian leaders are disrespected, their decisions overridden by the Government of Guyana and the democratic rights of their people trampled upon, is accelerating at a frightening rate.
This “official” of Government whose arrogance has become a trademark since he assumed his current office, has forgotten one important element before he issued such a reckless decision. Some two hundred Amerindian communities, villages and settlements elect leaders – Toshaos – who in turn constitute the membership of the National Toshaos’ Council. These members are then responsible for electing an Executive Body mandated by the Amerindian Act no. 6 – 2006, which is comprised of ten Toshaos representing the ten administrative Regions as well as ten other Toshaos. It is a fully democratic process where Amerindians exert their voting rights from the bottom up. So to bypass the authority of the NTC’s executive body is to invalidate the voting rights of thousands of Amerindians.
This is the second violation of Amerindian democratic rights in the space of two weeks, with the first being the attempt by Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan to discredit the Rupununi Petition against Regional Executive Officer (REO) Carl Parker.
What we are witnessing is a Government which instead of promoting inclusive governance, social cohesion and national unity, tramples anyone and bulldozes anything which is found on its path. The National Toshaos’ Council has the immense task, perhaps now more than ever before, in documenting these violations and reporting them to the relevant authorities, civil actors and international observers.
If the National Toshaos’ Council stands up and assumes its decision-making functions as an independent body in keeping with the prescriptions of the Act, then it will become the most powerful face of Amerindian rights and development in this country. For this, it must continue to rebut the intrusive policies of the Allicock administration and reconnect with the Amerindian peoples on the ground.
The persistent discrimination with which Amerindians are faced is causing them to stir in the regions and there are calls for increased representation covering a multitude of areas and not just land rights. It is here where the National Toshaos’ Council can provide guidelines to civil actors in promoting and defending the social, economic and human rights of their people.
There is renewed hope in the National Toshaos’ Council, now that the Executive stands strong against Government interference. Amerindians can now hope that their situation will be represented by their elected leaders at the next United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and that their votes would not have been cast in vain.
