NTC fires Deputy who called for Toshao’s firing.

THE DEPUTY who called for a forensic audit into the financial dealings and firing of his boss,
Ms. Loretta Fiedtkou, Toshao of Muritaro, was dismissed by the National Toshaos Council
(NTC).
Deputy Toshao, Mr. Nick Estwick accused Fiedtkou of using her position as an executive of the
NTC to orchestrate his removal for calling for a probe in likely financial crimes committed by
her.
“The Toshao is an executive member on the NTC and she has used her clout and power to get
the NTC to dismiss me, as a matter of fact (before my firing) they asked me to resign from the
NTC stating frivolous reasons, but I refused and they have dismissed me,” Estwick explained.
“This shows the level of callous and desperate attempts by the Toshao and her cohorts at the
NTC to silence villagers for speaking out. It is no wonder that everybody and all political parties
don’t take us seriously. If we are discriminating against our own, what then do you expect?” the
Deputy Toshao queried.
Estwick showed www.aroundtheregions.com the NTC correspondence verifying his firing as
Deputy Toshao. It said in part, “ It was reported that you held meetings without informing the
Toshao to get (her) permission and using the village stamp on the application of the HEYS
(Hinterland Employment and Youth Service) programme (and) you were not authorised to do so.
Hence, the NTC executive takes action asking you to withhold from your position of being the
deputy until further investigation”.
Muritaro polls is scheduled for this May and the letter is seen as a strategy to prevent him
contesting. But he promised to keep fighting for residents and hopes that the present
administration will support them.

The letter dated 7 th June 2019, was signed by NTC’s Secretary, Mr. Russian Dorrick and carbon
copied to the Toshao of Muritaro and Regional Development Officer, Mr. Anil Roberts.
However, the NTC took no action outside of its missive since mid-2019. Estwick believes this
was a smokescreen to thwart his militancy, undermine his influence and protect the embattled
Toshao.
“This is not a case where we the residents have been making this up. This is a clear case of the
Toshao, who has been abusing her authority and enriching herself, doing it openly with little or
no attempt made to have this corrected,” Estwick stressed.
For his part, Estwick has ignored the NTC correspondence purporting to remove him from the
Deputy Toshao position. He is adamant that as a villager he has no intention of leaving the
community. He stressed that he has a right to speak out against what he and others have deemed
as “injustices” which are rampant in Muritaro.
The Deputy Toshao said that the community was forced to reach out to the Attorney General and
Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall after they discovered a 30-year agreement signed
without the community’s knowledge by the embattled Toshao Fiedtkou.
“This agreement, he said, “is a clear indication of the depth of the Toshao’s desperation to enrich
herself at the expense of the community,” Estwick noted.
The Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Ms. Pauline Sukhai, has promised to review the
controversial contract.
Muritaro has a population of some 300 persons and remains small because of internal migration
for better opportunities, especially education which is limited for its enterprising youths.
“The youths here are greatly underprivileged when it comes to educational opportunities as the
highest level of learning here is Grade Six (known previously as Common Entrance, now SSEE).
We don’t have a secondary school so many children when they leave here after NGSA they are
reluctant to return after completing secondary school. In several instances their parents would
accompany them to help them in the enrolling process at their secondary school.’

“So, every year we lose students and parents because they pursue better opportunities,”
unavailable at Muritaro, Estwick explained.