Scenes of scores of indigenous people picketing Parliament, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration ministries or National Toshaos Council meetings have become commonplace over the past thirty years. From the controversial renaming of the Timehri International Airport in 1997 to resorting to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on land issues, the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) has been taken to the streets, to the courts and to international organisations to challenge the PPP/C’s maladministration of indigenous peoples’ affairs.
This opinion was expressed by Former President David Granger while revisiting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the programme – The Public Interest. He cited the Declaration affirmation that: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, kanunî, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.”
Mr. Granger cited several contentious issues which surround land and environmental security. Most particularly was APA’s disagreement with the PPP/C’s management of the carbon credit schemes and complaints that the NTC had been presented with a resolution to endorse the PPPC’s carbon programme without being afforded an opportunity to comprehend, consult and seek the consent of their communities in a language they understand and without access to technical support and guidance so that they could effectively participate in the decision-making process.
The APA claimed, also, that its own Land Tenure Assessments provided evidence of widespread land insecurity in Indigenous communities and that the environmental and social costs of mining had for decades been ‘externalized on Indigenous peoples and communities’. There was a clear contradiction in selling carbon credits and promising to keep the trees standing while handing out mining concessions without caring about the destruction of our forests…”
APA compiled complaints about the alleged violation of the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent with the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions Secretariat citing concerns about the carbon credit certification process because of unresolved land tenure issues and the failure to address the violation of the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard. The IACHR and UNCERD received complaints alleging violations committed against the Indigenous people − at Chinese Landing, a Carib community in the Barima-Waini Region; at Marudi Mountain, a Wapichan area which is the source of several rivers in the Rupununi Region and, at Isseneru, an Akawaio community in the Mazaruni-Cuyuni Region.
Mr. Granger acknowledged that the PPPC often accused the APA of political partisanship, misuse of donor funds and of trying to block communities from receiving development assistance. APA, on the other hand, criticized PPP/C’s patronising ‘handout, practice that perpetuated dependency but ignored the issues of alienation, crime, economic stagnation, infrastructural backwardness, poverty, substance abuse and unemployment which require comprehensive and structured solutions.
The former president is of the opinion that APA and PPP/C represent two different political cultures. The PPP/C’s ‘red’ policy is propelled by party political affiliation, electoral domination and cash. The APA’s ‘green’ policy is inspired by human rights, land, environment and a consensual community approach. The PPPC’s policy of totalistic control resulted in damage to social cohesion; disdain for infrastructural improvement; destruction of the environment in mining and logging zones and disrespect for non-cooperating communities and NGOs. The PPP/C has been waging an unworthy war against APA which hinders our first people’s right to a good life in a green environment in the land of their birth. 󠄀