‘Don’t celebrate Indigenous people in Georgetown, then abandon them at the backdam’ - MP Solomon

(Kaieteur News) – As Guyana celebrates Amerindian Heritage Month with cultural displays and speeches honouring the nation’s First Peoples, Shadow Natural Resources Minister and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament, Sharma Solomon, is accusing the government of failing to adequately protect Indigenous land rights.

In a statement released this week, Solomon highlighted a national contradiction, Indigenous leaders are being forced to physically put their bodies on the line to stop heavy mining machinery from destroying their ancestral territories, even as the state praises their role in forest conservation on the global stage.

Pointing directly to escalating land conflicts in hinterland communities, including Chinese Landing, Tassawini, Jawalla, Isseneru, Paramakatoi, the Upper Mazaruni, and Marudi, Solomon questioned the true authority of an Amerindian land title when gold or other valuable minerals are discovered beneath the soil.