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– residents calling on gov’t issues
By Lisa Hamilton
A group of residents in Hururu, an indigenous village home to some 800 persons in Region Ten, are calling on the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to look into what they believe is the gross mismanagement of their resources by the established Village Council.
On Friday, resident of Hururu Samuel Williams reached out to the Village Voice News on behalf of scores of residents as a last resort to correcting the current situation. According to Williams, the Council has been in place since 2018 but the village has had little development to show from the money it has been entrusted.
Providing a timeline of events, he said that, in 2019, one of the Council’s Treasurer was dismissed after reportedly misusing the funds she was entrusted. Another Treasurer has been appointed but is also now reportedly involved in more missing funds.
In April, Williams said that a next Treasurer appointed and the Chairman claimed to have purchased $2.5M worth of food items from Linden but could not show the receipt of their purchase. “We haven’t gotten no report from that ration up to today,” he said.
Added to this, on July 2, 2020, over $600,000 received from a Presidential Grant was stolen from a safe at the Council and the only person with access to the safe, reportedly, was the Treasurer who has denied involvement. The money was to be used to purchase cattle.
“They called in the police, the police checked the building keenly and noticed that there was no entry or breakage, the only person who had access to the key was him [the Treasurer]. He met with the villagers and said that in the next two weeks he would give an update on what’s going on about the money and up to now there is no record about how this money will be returned and we’re not pleased about what is going on in this village…they are not complying with the rules of the Amerindian Act to serve the villages at all so we are greatly upset,” Williams said.
The resident also told the Village Voice News that all efforts to receive a financial report on the Council’s spending has been met with disgust. He said that resistance comes from approximately five of the Council Members who seem to be more interested in utilizing funds as they see fit and collecting their stipend than listening to the concerns of the villagers.
The Village representative also reported that the boat belonging to the village which ought to be rented out and so that the finances can be used to develop the village or used to transport the sick, is instead being used daily by friends of the Council. Meanwhile, there is a tractor in need of spare parts so that it can be used to assist villagers in their livelihood but the Council has not attended to this. There is also a chicken farm that is not being unkempt. There is also a brand-new wood mill that is yet to be used that is now being taken over by bush.
“We the residents are really feeling and we would like the Minister of Amerindian Affairs to really look into the affairs of this community,” he said. He said that representatives of the Ministry have visited and pledged to conduct training of the Council, but more effort is needed so for the overall benefit of the village.
