By Fareeza Haniff
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Member of Parliament (MP) of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Renis Morian is of the view that the $1.1B allocated in the 2014 budget under the Amerindian Development Fund, borders on “madness”.
During his contribution to the debate in the National Assembly on Friday evening (April 04), Morian said “It’s iniquitous and borders on madness to spend in excess of $1B on line items.”
He said the 2014 budget failed to set out a roadmap for indigenous people development, bringing them on par with residents of the coastland.
In this regard, the Legislator recommended a National Amerindian Development Programme, which will include “broad objectives for holistic development, strategies for success, impacts, measureable indicators, time schedules, programme logical framework which identifies milestones and challenges included in this program.”
According to Morian, “The indigenous peoples of Guyana are tired of being used as election statistics; rent a crowd to cheer on when Ministers visit.”
The Parliamentarian explained that the National Development Progreamme’s output should include poverty alleviation, access to easy credit, venture capital, women and food security.
The APNU Member also told the House that poverty and migration of youths from the traditional village is adding greater burdens on the communities.
He believes that there is still time for adjustments to be made so as to adequately meet the needs of the Amerindian people.
