A mother of three has been elected the first female Toshao of the St. Cuthbert’s Mission located in the Mahaica River.
Beverly Clenkian received 122 votes at a recently held election followed by Neil Henry who received 108 votes.
In a statement from the Region Four Democratic Council, the new Toshao, Clenkian said her primary focus is to create more opportunities for the youths within her mission through the provision of training and employment opportunities. She also plans to promote the tourism capacity of the mission.
“I am going to ensure that the residents here can be able to showcase their handy craft more, thus generating tourism related interest in what they are doing while at the same time I am going to create opportunities for the youths through training and other exposure,” Clenkian was quoted as saying at the Village Council’s first meeting.
At today’s meeting, Anderson Clenkian was elected as her Deputy. The statement noted that they are not related to each other.
The mother of three, who is also a student at the University of Guyana, disclosed that she was privileged to have served under three previous Toshaos and was encouraged by her fellow villagers to get involved.
“In the last council there was a number of complains and concerns being raised as many of the residents felt that only the family of the Toshao was being looked after and it was because of this feeling that caused them to appeal to me to come forward and run and I told them that if this is how all of them feel then I will contest,” she said according to the statement.
Regional Chairman, Ms Genevieve Allen in congratulating the new Toshao, declared that this augurs well for the region as it encourages more women to take up leadership roles.
“This is certainly an indication that our women are taking up leadership roles and I would like to urge other women to emulate these achievements being made by Toshao Clenkian and others.”
The Regional Chairman declared that with Local Government Elections (LGE) slated for later this year, she would like to see more female contestants.
The other eleven elected councillors are, Simer Pereira, Timothy Andrews, Neil Henry, Alicia Hendricks, Denise Pereira, Foster Simon, Reone Causway, Julio Pereira, Paul Andrews, Cierre Andrews and Julian Kactow.
Earlier this month, the community of Baramita in Region one also elected a female Toshao.
