Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to be renamed

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 May 2015, 17:43 by GxMedia

The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is to be renamed the Indigenous Peoples Affairs Ministry and, like most other ministries, would be focusing on business development, according to President David Granger.

“In the Indigenous Peoples Affairs Ministry we would be looking at the livelihoods, the quality of life of Indigenous People,” he said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

Asked why the ministry is being renamed, the President said that is what Guyana’s First Peoples prefer to be called.

Granger hoped that the Indigenous People’s Ministry would focus on having proper roads and marketing strategies to sell their produce outside their communities. The President said the renamed ministry would continue to focus on land rights and community issues.

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development would be renamed the Ministry of Communities which would be responsible for Housing, Water and Local Government “The terminology is not cosmetic…It’s really trying to make communities function better rather than just house and road,” he said, adding that the responsibilities would include garbage disposal, electricity and water supply.

A Ministry of Business is expected to be responsible for internal trade, and Information and Communications Technology.

A number of Ministers of State, he said, are expected to be appointed over a period of time to help orient new persons for eventual full-fledged ministerial appointments.

Attorney-at-Law, Basil Williams is to be appointed Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs;  Carl Greenidge is to be Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine is expected to be sworn in as the minister responsible for the natural resources sector. Mr. Winston Jordan is slated to be the Minister of Finance.