Vice Chairman of the National Toshao Council (NTC) Lenox Shuman on Friday called on politicians to “park” their politics outside of indigenous peoples’ communities.
Responding to Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Minister Sydney Allicock’s statement that Amerindian communities are being torn apart by “agents of division,” Shuman posited that this occurs when a community allows politics to seep in.
Allicock on Monday had urged indigenous people to not be divided by agents of divisions. He stated that villages continue to struggle with division and so he encouraged them to work together. He instructed them to “ignore” the agents of divisions” and avoid them. “We need to work together as team ….urgent matters must be reported immediately at the village council and the ministry and the regional offices,” he said.
Shuman stated that “politics have no right in communities” because of its negative impact on the people; and that the communities would be divided and would have different agenda, resulting in stagnation.
“…people would have different agenda and this does not lead to meaningful development of indigenous communities,” he said, adding: “I think when elections are done, park all of that politics aside and let us work for what is best for the community and the same should be for nation building.”
He pointed out that if politicians believe that they are working for the betterment of the people, then, “leave the politics outside of the small communities.”
A section of the gathering at the National Toshaos Council meeting on Monday
“There is no way that I will take a partisan position regardless of how I vote,” he said, suggesting that the leaders need to look after the needs of their people and stop with the politics.
However, some Toshaos adamantly denied that their communities are divided by politics. One stated that the present administration has done nothing to develop his village and so he was waiting to see what will become of “all the talks” in the NTC annual Conference this year.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo had stated that policy directives are no longer in the hands of the substantive Ministry or Minister since Vice President and Minster of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sidney Allicock is ‘without authority.’
“He is a good man,” Jagdeo praised but underscoring that the problem is that he is without authority since the decision-makers are seated at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Jagdeo further lamented this situation by pointing to the fact that there are numerous ‘racist-oriented’ persons who now form the core of the decision-making process.
The Government, on the other hand, has stated that they are in full support for the development of the Amerindian peoples and their communities. (Jeanna Pearson)
