Newly-appointed Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, has said her priorities include ensuring that the Land Titling Project which had started under the previous PPP/C Administration, prior to 2015, is fast-tracked.
Sukhai who took the oath of office as a member of President Irfaan Ali’s Cabinet on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC), had also previously served as Amerindian Affairs Minister under the Donald Ramotar Administration.
She posited that access to titled lands is a key concern for Amerindians and reminded that her Ministry had allocated funds to ensure that lands applied for by Guyana’s indigenous peoples were demarcated and titled.
Commenting on the present situation, she said: “There has been a setback, a pause more or less, and I intend to resume a much more robust attention to completing that project.”
The Minister noted that other priority areas include ensuring that indigenous youths are provided with employment opportunities and affordable housing.
“We have had gross neglect over the last five years, which we will have to work to transition into a much more ease for the hinterland communities,” Sukhai told the media.
Sukhai expressed that her Ministry will resuscitate the entrepreneurship project which the PPP/C Government had started.
“I always believe in empowerment of the people. This is going to greatly help in any national drive to bring on par those who are in a lesser economic position; and therefore we will have to look to see how we will continue to invest in the area of entrepreneurship,” she explained.
She outlined that there are many potential areas where her Ministry will have to continue to focus on as the government’s aim is to transform the lives of people everywhere.
Sukhai also disclosed that the President has already placed immediate focus on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the Hinterland communities and efforts will be heightened to ensure that the disease is contained.
President Ali on Wednesday swore in 19 members of his new Cabinet, and among the lot are several new, vibrant and youthful faces, whom he said bring multifaceted skillset and experience to the table.
“It’s a multifaceted fusion of experience and skillsets that we brought together… So you will see many of the appointments in the various areas of Government that will fuse different corners of our society together, different interests of our society together, as we work on giving the people of our country the best possible outcome…
“You’ve taken, like I did, an oath to people of this country, and we expect nothing else but fulfillment of that oath,” the President urged his team.
