Amerindian group calls for Riversview to be included in Region Seven
Stabroek News
June 2, 2002
The Guyanese Organization of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) is calling on government to take the Riversview community out of the administration of Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) and place it within the jurisdiction of Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
According to a letter addressed to Minister of Local Government, Harripersaud Nokta on Wednesday, a copy of which was circulated to the media, GOIP said that through this move Region Ten's northern boundary on the East Bank Essequibo (EBE) would be the Badawarin Creek, or the northern limits of Monkey Jump. Then the northern boundary of Riversview could be the line that now demarcates Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) from Region Ten on the EBE, GOIP stated.
This request, the letter noted, comes after years of complaints by Riversview residents, both to Touchau, Dr George Norton and the village council as well as to GOIP.
The residents of this indigenous village, GOIP said, attest to grave inconveniences and waste of time and money in having to travel over 200 km to and from the Region Ten administrative centre to conduct various transactions.
According to the letter, most people in Riversview relate easier to Bartica, just across the Essequibo River.
And the letter, calling for the earliest attention to this matter, added that the residents should not have to suffer from what GOIP has described as a demarcation blunder made in outlining the regional administration system in the 1980s.