The Micobie, Parabaru and Karisparu Amerindian communities recently obtained Presidential Grants totalling $2.1M for enhancement works.
A Government Information Agency (GINA) press release said Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai presented the grants to the communities on Wednesday. “The programme provides communities with the financial resources necessary to fund projects that aim to provide the required services within their communities and help to make them more economically viable.”
Newly elected Toshao Julie Johnson of Micobie, Region Eight received a $1.2M grant which she said will be used to construct a ‘rest house’ in the area.
The building will provide accommodation for visitors; a paid service that will generate income for the community. Johnson said currently visitors do not enjoy adequate accommodation.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai (second from right) with Toshaos (from left) Felix Williams, Julie Johnson and Ekufa Mewsha (GINA photo)
Karisparu Toshao Felix Williams received $886,000 to expand the village shop in his Region Eight community. This will preclude residents’ need to travel to other villages or communities to p
urchase supplies. The current community was funded by sums from a Presidential Grant and according to Williams residents had expressed the need to expand it.
Ekufa Mewsha, Toshao of Parabaru Village received the final portion of the grant. According to Mewsha this is the third Grant the Region Nine village has benefited from and it will be used to complete a village office that is now being built. Village council meetings will be held in the office which will replace the benabs previously used.
According to GINA the minister presented the grants to the toshaos and congratulated Mewsha on being re-elected. Sukhai said she hopes the grants would be used responsibly and that the projects will be sustainable and benefit the entire community.
The minister said the Presidential Grant programme is used to fund community projects. These include productive and economic projects ranging from the expansion of village farms, eco lodges, building dams, clearing trails, providing kitchen facilities for school feeding programmes and cattle rearing. Sukhai said applications for grants are processed within two days through a simple process which requires that the communities present proposals and estimates for their proposed projects.
She said the ministry uses an approach that allows the community to decide on its priority project. Sukhai said that this method allows communities to participate in their development allows residents the leverage to own their projects. The ministry monitors the progress of the projects and later this year will provide a report of the impact that the Presidential Grants have had on various communities. GINA said the grants usually range from $500,000 to $1.7M and are distributed annually among the 139 Amerindian communities.
$2.1M (GD), is that how much it cost to guarantee the Amerindian vote?
how much do you expect, prior to 92 they get zero, nothing.
BURNHAM NEVER GIVE THEM ANYTHING.
Mack
dem pee n see always used get votes free…70 to 85 %…eheheheh dont fuget dat huh…..
So LAMBADA,EVIL and FREESPEECH you think the lil ($2.1M) money will……… how did your party put it “make them more economically viable”?
Mack
i will answer you…be it 2 mil or 2 dollar…dont you think its better than what they got prior to 92?
in your own words Mack kindly tell us what guyanese got under peee n see illegal rule for 28 years?
other than black out black market corruption water shortage kick down de door bandits house if israel banned foods horse drawn busses for public transport line up for food hampers and guy lines all over guyana for basic human needs…..you tell us in your own words now…others can name a few more..
Burnham never recognise them,,they had to hide from the Military then…
evil, love that one, ‘guy lines’. lol.
oh yea Mack..pee n see give us de rupunini uprising…thanks Soldier…if meh leff out any adda ting please fill in Mack….
…can’t trust them people that … in spite of the bead and trinkets, don’t know which way they’ll swing elections day … after all my father is one of them … and i can never tell which way he will swing next … always one step ahead one me!…
What’s a Presidential grant? Have presidential grants ever been distributed to opposing forces of the PPP? What are the criteria for receiving these grants? Couldn’t a grant be used to provide the president’s wife with a car for her charity work? Who is in charge of the Presidential grant?
WAR_ 530, you know the answers to all the questions here. Why bother to ask them ,anyway…….?
What type of Charity work was she doing???
This is the most outrageously bumptious nomenclature for tax payers money.The risible name Presidential Grant IS totally assinie.Did Jagdeo extracted the money from his personal coffers???Belligerency and pompouseness are the hallmarks of this marxist ppp administration.They are wandering mendicants who return and place their kremlin seal of approval from the crumbs they receive for political expediency.
despite what the critics say, the ppp govt. have a good record of treating its native people well. the same cannot be said for canada and the usa. last year canada’s pm, stephen harper, appologised to the native people for centuries of abuse, discrimination, religious conversion, and uprooting of children from their families. nothing has anything changed for the natives in canada since then. ONLY LAST WEEK THE POPE APOLOGISED TO NATIVE LEADER PHIL FONTAINE IN ITALY FOR THE CENTURIES OF ABUSE AND RELIGIOUS CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES IN CANADA. for natives in the usa,the same sad situation exists.
Once again we have a bunch of naysayers missing the point with negativity. Instead of focusing on the issue at hand,the grant, to poor individuals in a very harsh landscape,a load of baloney is forthcoming.These are the very opinions that harm Guyana and any progress it tries to make.It has come to a point where it appears to be a deliberate attempt at his act.