President Irfaan Ali told an audience gathered for the opening of Guyana's 2026 Heritage Month celebrations that his government has channelled more than $41.7 billion into Amerindian and hinterland communities over the past five years. The figure includes $21.7 billion disbursed through the Amerindian Development Fund, which supports village-level projects chosen by residents themselves.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ali described the spending as part of a deliberate effort to close longstanding gaps between hinterland regions and the rest of the country. He said villages that once had little beyond basic shops now operate sawmills, ecotourism ventures, bus services and modern agricultural schemes. He contrasted this with earlier decades, recalling that the "biggest request" from an Amerindian community seeking development support used to be a single sewing machine.

The president's remarks touched on several sectors where his government points to measurable change. Solar and hydroelectric projects have lifted regional power generation capacity from around 1.62 megawatts to nearly 17.5 megawatts, according to figures presented at the event. Potable water coverage in hinterland areas has risen from 45 per cent to 95 per cent, following the installation of 260 new water systems across affected villages.

Transport infrastructure has also expanded. Officials cited 79 kilometres of paved road, 71 kilometres of asphaltic surfacing and more than 1,200 kilometres of laterite roads completed under the programme, alongside ongoing maintenance across thousands of kilometres of rural routes connecting remote communities to regional centres.

In health and education, the government pointed to a sharp fall in malaria positivity rates in Region Nine, from 24 per cent to below seven per cent, which it attributed to expanded regional healthcare provision, including new hospital construction. Ali said Guyana is close to achieving universal primary and secondary education coverage in Indigenous villages, a target he described as unthinkable a generation ago.

Separately, government figures show $19.6 million has gone into information and communication technology infrastructure in the hinterland, bringing high-speed connectivity to more than 250 villages and benefiting an estimated 140,000 people. Ali acknowledged that digital access remains uneven and said service providers, naming Digicel and GTT among them, needed to do more to close the gap. He argued that private sector involvement would be necessary to achieve full digital inclusion across the interior.

Much of the president's address was devoted to defending his government against criticism over localised service failures. He argued that the proper measure of development lies not in the absence of problems but in whether economic growth is being used to address entrenched inequities faced by Indigenous peoples. Critics, he said, would point to a pothole, a power outage or a school in need of repair and treat these as evidence of failure, while overlooking broader gains such as the approach to universal secondary education in Indigenous communities.

Ali closed his address with a warning about political opportunism, cautioning hinterland residents against outside parties he said were seeking to exploit local grievances for partisan advantage. He urged communities to judge development by its cumulative record rather than by isolated setbacks.

The Amerindian Development Fund figures were corroborated separately by Guyana's Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Campbell-Sukhai, who said in December that $11.7 billion had been invested in village and community projects between 2020 and 2025, benefiting 253 villages with a combined population of 107,622. She said the government's approach placed decision-making authority over how funds are used in the hands of villages themselves.

The scale of the spending, and the president's framing of it, is likely to feature prominently in ongoing political debate ahead of future elections, as opposition figures continue to press the government over service delivery in rural and Indigenous constituencies.

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