North Rupununi residents were thrown out of lodging and from cultural representation for the Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations. This is being alleged by Louann Allicock and Althea Hamilton of the North Rupununi cultural groups.
Surama North Rupununi Culture Group Leader, Louanna Allicock said the receipt of a gift of a keyboard from Mohameds Enterprise, a gift that was posted on Team Mohamed’s Facebook page is the cause of the group being booted.
“We were told by the person, I don’t want to name names because he always helps us, that he get the information from higher up and you guys have to go, ‘I already call the bus,’” Louanna explained to Village Voice News while travelling back to the North Rupununi.”
Allicock expressed that the culture group had a non-working keyboard. “We had made several requests to the government for a new keyboard which were ignored,” Allicock said “we were invited to perform in French Guiana and reached out to the Mohameds for the gift because of the government’s refusal of the request of a keyboard to the culture group.
The Culture Group leader said they did not make it to French Guiana but as they were scheduled to perform at the Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations and were in Georgetown they contacted the Mohameds for the gift and collected it.
Allicock said but we were told by the person, who they did not wish to name, that they could not participate in the Amerindian Heritage Month Celebration Hosted by the government no longer Allicock said we ask ” can we use the keyboard that is on stage” ” the person who she did not want to name said no and we have already called the bus so yall got to leave please.”
Meanwhile Village Voice News reached out to Althea Hamilton from the Northwind Team in Aranaputa who said “we had written a letter to Azruddin Mohamed for the Purchase of a Keyboard which I forwarded to him from the Surama Culture Group, headed by Louanna Allicock, and they did not get it in time to Go to French Guiana.”
Further, Hamilton stated that “I got a call from the head of the culture group stating that they were refused entry into the Amerindian Heritage Month cultural activities” She sees the rejection as “an attack on Amerindians who voted overwhelming for WIN [We Invest in Nationhood] and an attack on our culture by the PPP.”
Hamilton noted too that “there are contractors in the North Rupununi Village of Toka whose contracts were rescinded because they voted for WIN.
Several calls to the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr., were left unanswered up to the story being published. Efforts are being made to contact the Permanent Secretary.
