All manifesto promises to Amerindians achieved to date – Min Sukhai

The government has achieved all promises that were listed under the PPP\C manifesto under the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs within the last three years.

This is according to the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai who was at the time speaking at the ministry’s end-of-year press conference on Tuesday at its office on Thomas Street.

“Some of the areas that we have achieved that fall specifically under the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, that have been listed in our manifesto, entails the small villages that used to receive the $450,000 are now receiving a million increase in the presidential grant,” the minister pointed out.

She added that bigger villages that were receiving close to $1.2 M are now receiving a minimum of $2 M or more.

According to the minister, this presidential grant brought a lot of support to all Amerindian villages that allowed them to establish numerous projects in the communities.

“We have also been able to resume land titling and we have put together a unit that has aggressively been pursuing the land issue and matters to deal with demarcation for Amerindian communities that are moving from community status into village status,” Minister Sukhai posited.

Additionally, the ministry has since resumed the Youth Entrepreneurial and Apprenticeship Programme (YEAP) now commonly known as the Community Service Officers (CSO) Programme.

This programme has been giving young people, especially those from remote areas the opportunity to get back on track with their lives. From this programme, the youths have sought training which has since enabled them to take up meaningful roles in their communities to aid in its development.

‘Within the parameters of our responsibility and our budget, I believe that we have significantly made quite a lot of interventions that have today seen the village economy and village development and peoples’ livelihood and welfare being more visible,” the Amerindian Affairs leader explained.

Moreover, alluding to the budget, Minister Sukhai was happy to announce that the ministry has expended its full budget sum on the development of the Amerindian people.

The monies went into the investment of some of the mentioned programmes.