The PPP administration will be presenting to the National Assembly next Thursday, a $3B supplementary budget for further financial support for Amerindian communities.
Head of State, Dr Irfaan Ali made this announcement today as he addressed Toshaos and community representatives gathered at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre on day four of the National Toshaos Conference (NTC) 2022.
“We have decided that we must act immediately in your interest. So next week Thursday we will proceed to the National Assembly to pass a supplementary provision to have $3bn dedicated to Amerindian development and the development of your communities.”
This additional allocation, the President noted, is outside of the $50B already invested in Amerindian communities in under two years.
Guyana Standard understands that the funds will be used to address the immediate needs of the communities. This was decided after proposals were submitted by the Amerindian leaders on Wednesday.
Several hundred participants had grouped their proposed developmental projects into various categories including food security and agriculture, women’s affairs, pensioners and the elderly, children and youths, human resources, facilities, services, economic activities and empowerment and infrastructure. This methodology, the President had emphasised, would allow stakeholders to come up with core plans to accelerate their needs and accelerate the implementation of their ideas.
After today’s announcement, President Ali assured the Indigenous leaders that in the coming weeks, they will see members of Cabinet joining them in their communities to crystallize these plans.
He stated that within the $3bn, $250M will be set aside for youth empowerment projects.
