The 12th Annual National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference is expected to be held in July, according to Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock.
This announcement was made on Thursday last by the Minister, who believes that the annual five-day event will allow for Indigenous leaders to hold discussions with members of the Government on issues affecting their respective communities.
Amerindian leaders at NTC Conference
In addition, a new Executive Committee of the NTC will this year be elected. The process is usually conducted by the Guyana Elections Commissions (GECOM) to enable transparency. The electoral process will see the casting of ballots in every administrative region, since this allows for the selection of the executives, based on a majority vote. From the twenty executives, a chairman, secretary and treasurer will be elected.
According to a report posted by the Department of Public Information, the political structures of indigenous communities are linked to the local government system, and village chiefs and their councillors, who are elected to serve for three years.
Prior to the holding of the NTC Conference, some 215 communities will hold village elections wherein new toshaos and councillors would be elected to serve their respective communities. These newly elected village leaders would also represent their communities at the upcoming conference.
Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock
“We are looking at a programme that is going to see the new executive coming in, but the old executive is going to transition slowly. Three days into the activities, they will have the nomination for the new executive, and then they (new executives) flow into their new office,” Minister Allicock explained.
He said the idea is to give the sitting executives a proper “send-off” in recognition of their hard work and contributions over the past three years.
