Dear Editor,
I wish to refer to a letter under the caption ‘Only one introductory LCDS meeting was held in Santa Rosa’ in your issue of January11.
The letter-writer, apparently from Santa Rosa Village, who did not disclose his/her name appears to have a wrong conceptulisation about Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) even though he/she claims to “sometimes be reading things in relation to the LCDS.” Can the letter-writer say what “things” he/she has been reading about the strategy, and where they originate from? I am aware that anti-LCDS documentation is in circulation in Amerindian villages and communities to mislead residents about the LCDS.
Sub-national consultation on the LCDS indeed tooked place at Santa Rosa Village and the venue was packed to capacity, which was not an indicator that the communities in the Moruca Sub-region received short notice to attend the consultations.
The writer stated that familiarization on the LCDS was not allowed. Can they say by whom? I am aware that the presenters at the consultations told the packed audience at Santa Rosa that if they needed further information on the strategy they could make contact with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and the Office of Climate Change, where officials would be happy to provide such information. The LCDS booklets that were distributed at the consultations also invited readers to make contact with the Office of Climate Change where the address and telephone numbers were given in the event readers needed further information. So the refusal to allow village residents to familiarize themselves with the LCDS at Santa Rosa is difficult to understand and believe. Village toshaos that attend NTC conferences or meetings on behalf of their villages must provide the village general meeting with a report. Section 22 (F) of the Amerindian Act 2006 states “a toshao shall provide the village general meeting with a report of every meeting which he attends on their behalf.” So village residents also have a responsibility to demand from their toshaos a report on what was transpired at the conference or meeting they attended on their behalf. Toshaos not reporting to their villagers seems to be a general complaint by villagers.
The majority of the toshaos that signed the 2010 National Toshaos Conference (NTC) resolution in support of Guyana’s LCDS knew what they were signing, and the NTC conference was the right occasion to declare such support for the strategy. The few toshaos who did not sign the resolution had to satisfy the wish of their political agenda.
Amerindian villages and communities must know that consultations on the LCDS are not finished. The NTC will spearhead the consultation in the Amerindian communities but is awaiting funds to do so from the World Bank.
The NTC is not an irresponsible body. It is a corporate body working in collaboration with the government to help push social and economic developments in the Amerindian communities of Guyana. Let us all support the work of the NTC.
Yours faithfully,
Peter Persaud
