The APA persists with distortion of facts to make itself relevant for the purpose of grant-funding

… secret attempts by the APA to deprive Indigenous Villages of progress must stop

THE Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) issued a release dated April 18, 2023, attacking the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) and its Chairman Derrick John, a respected Toshao of an Indigenous village in Guyana. In the same release the APA attempts to also target Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, after being exposed for attempting to block finances from going to Amerindian villages.

This attack on the NTC Chairman, who was unanimously elected by Toshaos of over 200 Amerindian communities, should be strongly denounced. The APA may not like what the NTC’s Chairman revealed in his letter to the editor dated April 15, 2023, as the council called out the APA for filing a secret objection to the ART Secretariat, the international certifying body for Guyana’s carbon credits, without the prior knowledge or consent of the Indigenous peoples. This personal attack on the NTC Chair reveals the APA’s unravelling struggle to deflect from difficult questions including its inability to explain how would suspending the process for Guyana’s credits issued for 2016 to 2020 help our Amerindian Peoples fulfil the plans and projects they have developed for their own advancement. The APA has not answered this question because they cannot find an answer that makes sense or that is truthful.

Being unable to rely on facts, the APA resorts to disputing issues such as the number of LCDS 2030 documents they received, while avoiding the substantive issue of the overall consultations with thousands of Amerindians; disputing how many meetings they managed to attend, while avoiding the fact that there was broad-based engagement; and waxing lyrical about the structure of minutes of meetings, while avoiding their non-existent contributions to those meetings.

The APA purports to project itself as the sole arbiter of what is right and good for Indigenous Peoples and the sole fighter for the progress and development of Amerindian communities. However, the facts expose this deception and the Guyanese populace is intelligent and well versed in matters that affect them.

The fact is that Amerindians in Guyana under successive PPP/C governments have made the most progress in every sphere of their lives. The track record of the PPP/C on Indigenous Peoples’ issues is unquestionable as summarized in the few points below:

FACT 1: STRONG COMMITMENT TO INDIGENOUS LAND TITLING UNDER THE PPP/C GOVERNMENT

Land titling has moved from six per cent in 1992 to 14 per cent by 2014, and from August 2020 the process has been resumed and is progressing. Successive PPP/C governments have stood in strong support of indigenous land titling and have the track record to show for it. While Indigenous Peoples in many countries have right of use of the land only, in Guyana where the Indigenous Peoples account for approximately 9.7 per cent of the population, Amerindians own land, including the forests and resources within their Titled Lands.

The APA has lied about the land-titling programme and has made every effort to stall the process over 20162020. When asked about the land-titling project by the Stabroek News, the APA’s Governance Coordinator, Laura George, was exposed for lying that the land-titling project started under the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition government. When confronted with the facts at the last National Toshaos’ Council meeting in July 2022, she claimed that the Stabroek News misquoted her, a claim that the Stabroek News has since disproved.

The APA remained silent when the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Keith Scott dubbed Amerindians of Guyana as “avaricious” or greedy in no place less than the National Assembly – a comment that was made after the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) called on the Coalition to deliver on its promises and advance the Amerindian Land Titling programme. The APA also remained silent when Amerindians were told by the PNCR-led Coalition that if they benefitted from lands, they would have to forego benefits from Guyana’s oiland-gas resources. The APA said nothing when there were widespread objections to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into ancestral and indigenous lands – objections grounded in fear of a return to the pre-1992 disposition where Amerindian land rights were not a priority.

A summary of the situation regarding land titling should capture the following relevant facts:

* When democracy was restored in Guyana in 1992 – bringing to an end 28 years of the PNCR-led dictatorship – a total of 74 villages, approximately six per cent of Guyana’s territory, were titled, but many had not been demarcated.

* From 1992 to 2010, demarcation proceeded for the 74 villages and a further 22 were titled, along with reformed legislation (including the 2006 Amerindian Act) and an improved policy/ regulatory framework built around a village-led process including elected representatives (Toshaos and Village Councils)

* In 2009, the original LCDS conceptualised the Amerindian Land Titling Project, which would address all outstanding titling requests, utilising money received under the GuyanaNorway Agreement and implemented in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

* In 2013, the project started, and during the periods 2013-2015, and 2020 to date, a total of 24 villages were demarcated. This is out of an overall project total of 28 demarcations to date.

* The 24 villages de - marcated under the PPP/Cled government, including the two Certificates of Title prepared this year translates to 5,477 square miles or 1,418,741 hectares of legally held Amerindian lands.

* During the period 2015-2020, when the PNCR-led Coalition was once again in government, only two were hurriedly given their certificates of title after passage of the no-confidence motion. The APA supported this slow and diminished approach of the land- titling project and proffered no criticism during this period.

FACT 2: SUSTAINED SUPPORT FOR THE AMERINDIAN ACT AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS BY THE PPP/C

Guyana is one of the first countries in this region, and one of the few in the world, to have dedicated legislation for Indigenous Peoples. Successive PPP/C administrations have prioritized constitutional protections, legislative support and cre- ated institutions that bring greater rights and benefits to Indigenous Peoples, empower governance and decision making at the village level and support regional and national representation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights through the NTC.

The Amerindian Act 2006 charts a clear pathway for securing land titling for Indigenous villages and empowers villages to plan for the development through a process of self-determination. The Act also outlines the role of the National Toshaos Council in representing Amerindian people. These legislative provisions have all been mainstreamed in the forest carbon credits programme. The Act allocates sub-surface rights for small- and medium-scale mining operations to Amerindian villages.

The APA, instead of supporting the facilitation of conditions needed for greater rights and benefits, quietly conspired with the APNU+AFC Coalition to redefine what is indigenous, to include non-Amerindian communities – a move that would have set back the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It was the PPP/C that led the fight to resist this.