The People’s Progressive Party/Civic government has always sounded its commitment to revising the Amerindian Act 2006, to ensure the indigenous peoples’ rights are legally protected.
As such, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Legal Affairs will be establishing a committee that will be responsible for consultations before the end of this year.
Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai while meeting with residents of Kaburi, Region Seven recently made the disclosure.
“The government gave us $10 million this year to ensure that the mechanism is put in place for next year’s direct consultation with every village, the committee will be set up and the secretariat will be launched this year,” Minister Sukhai relayed.
The committee will be responsible for making recommendations and engaging with every single Amerindian community to solicit recommendations that will eventually make up the amended Amerindian Act.
$10 million had already been earmarked by the Amerindian Affairs Ministry in 2022, to establish the committee, the modalities of the consultation process and the training of facilitators.
The Amerindian Affairs Minister added, “We expect that secretariat of that committee to launch the consultation so that we will be able to care and meet with each village to hear what is it, what you want to change in the act, because so far, the act is one of the modern act in the history of indigenous people across the world.”
This all ties in with the government’s commitment to have Constitutional Reform as it seeks to modernise the legal architecture in Guyana. (Department of Public Information)
