Minister of Amerindian Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues has chided the opposition for referring to government’s assistance in the form of transportation, machinery and equipment to Amerindian communities as handouts, declaring that they are much needed items for the development process.
As one of the four speakers on the budget in the National Assembly during the first three hours yesterday, Rodrigues took to task PNCR-1G MPs Dr George Norton and Anthony Vieira for referring to the much “needed items” as handouts when given by the government but not classified in the same manner when the PNCR does likewise.
“Stop that and stop that today,” she told the opposition MPs in the parliament chambers while students from the Bina Hill Institute of Annai, North Rupununi and a number of other hinterland students looked on from the gallery.
Speaking about the welfare of hinterland students, she said that the government would be building a students’ hostel in the city to accommodate hinterland students in keeping with requests from parents and the students themselves. At present she said there are 150 students who are staying at various homes across the city.
This plan, AFC MP Raphael Trotman told the National Assembly in his presentation, is commendable but it is not meeting the needs of the Amerindian communities which are in dire need of improvement.
Rodrigues noted that the educational needs of Amerindian students were being met in many of the hinterland communities by secondary schools which the PPP/C government has built. In addition, she said, most of the students coming from the hinterland to attend the residential President’s College were performing very well.
Also in terms of educational inputs, she said that in recent years 1,000 teachers were trained in the hinterland and 70 teacher trainees were currently at the Cyril Potter College of Education and another 200 were being trained in the region.
Noting that Dr Norton had raised the issue of awarding scholarships to Amerindian students who perform excellently in sports, Rodrigues noted that there was no precedent but she had discussed this issue with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony and reported that it was an idea that could be further explored.
Casareep
Her remarks on the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on cassava bread, farine and casareep (all cassava products) brought laughter to the house.
Reporting on issues related to the Amerindian communities, she said that 75 per cent of the 96 titled communities are now demarcated. Moreover, titled communal ownership by most Amerindian communities was an achievement Guyanese in general should be proud of since many indigenous groups in other parts of the world move to the courts to challenge their governments on land rights issues.
Referring to improved telecommunication in the far-flung regions, she congratulated the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph company and Digicel for making this possible, while expressing confidence that they would continue to extend their service to all parts of the country.
Rodrigues was loud in her praise for the success of the malaria eradication programme in the hinterland.
She said that she expects the number to be greatly reduced this year owing to the Ministry of Health’s vector control programme which has distributed impregnated mosquito nets to hinterland communities.
In terms of vector control, Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy announced to the house that the ministry has taken on to its establishment a ‘health emergency coordinator’ to work in the area of vector control. It was the first time that the ministry was employing someone in this position who will be dealing with vector control to include control of rodents, he said.
Dr Ramsammy noted that vector control would no longer be part of the disease control mechanism but it would be placed in environmental health.
Supporting the budget which he boasted provides the social sector with the largest allocation, he said his ministry has also received its largest allocation ever in the sum of $12.1 billion.
Stating that “we must never defer the social needs of our people,” he said “the PPP budgets have always had that hallmark” of catering to the social needs.
In spite of the allocation, he noted that it was not sufficient and even the developed USA has some 37 million people who do not have access to basic health care. He noted that even though there was improved health care in Guyana there were a number of areas that needed attention such as treating with kidney failure and making open heart surgery accessible.
And contending that “Health insurance was not going to work in Guyana,” he invited the opposition MPs to work with the government on finding solutions to the problem areas in health which need to be tackled.
