Toshaos from regions 2, 7 and 9 were elected by their peers to sit on the Indigenous Peoples Commission (IPC) at the end of a four-day confab on capacity building in Georgetown.

A release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) on Saturday said that those nominated and elected were Yvonne Pearson of Mainstay/Whyaka, Region Two; Lawrence Anselmo of Purima, Region Seven and Eugene Isaacs of Toka, Region Nine.

The elections were held after all the Toshaos (village captains) were trained as rural constables by the police. The names of the three persons will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval. The IPC is one of the new commissions established via constitutional reforms.

According to GINA, Pearson told her fellow Toshaos not to expect the three elected persons to solve all their problems but promised that working together they could do their best.

On Tuesday, GINA said the Toshaos decided that their council would be a statutory body.

At the meeting Toshaos were also trained as Justices of the Peace (JPs) and at the end of the forum the JP manual was handed over to the captains by the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.