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Oct 18, 2017 Letters
Dear Editor,
The Carib residents of the Baramita village, Matarkai sub-region, Region 1 (Barima-Waini) have bitterly complained that the root cause of their current and ugly social ills is irresponsible mining activities taking place on their legally-titled village lands without consent or permission by a village general meeting called by the village council. The village residents are claiming that the Coastland miners are in total control of their village council and already know who the next new Toshao and village councilors at village elections will be through bribery and a padded voters list of non-residents resulting in rigged village elections.
The residents have claimed that the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Clerk of the Regional Democratic Council (returning officer) elections clerk, and deputy elections clerk did nothing about rigged village elections in Baramita; they simply turned a blind eye. Village elections in Baramita will be held in April, 2018 and residents are demanding that the National Toshao Council (NTC) strictly monitor and observe the entire elections process. The Baramita residents have also complained that the miners of their village lands are not paying the village tribute of at least seven percent of the value of minerals obtained from village lands from small and medium- scale mining (section 51 (1) of AM, Act 2006).
The mine officers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) based at Eclipse Falls do absolutely nothing about this neither do they go to Baramita to inspect the production book of the miners. They only go to Baramita to uplift salaries. The Chief Mines officer (CMO) and the GGMC Commissioners if they know or do not know about the lawless mining activities taking place at Baramita need to quickly dispatch a special team to Baramita so as to conduct investigations and to take corrective actions.
It is important that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner- General Mr. Godfrey Statia take note, and act on this within the shortest possible time. But while Baramita’s rich resources are heavily extracted on a daily basis its residents, the Caribs are currently living in poverty and misery with absolutely no strategic interventions by the Government through the MOIPA to bring about positive and lasting changes for the poor Baramita residents.
The residents are therefore claiming that in tackling Baramita’s never-ending problems the root causes will first have to be examined otherwise other intervention will be useless. But this is not what the Vice- President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs Sydney Allicock is doing and according to village residents the Minister has totally neglected and abandoned the Baramita Amerindian village.
The Baramita residents are also claiming that on the matter of suicides in the village the police officers do not conduct investigations and they are highly concerned over this because when a suicide victim is found he/she will be in a sitting position with a slack rope around the neck. Further, the police at Baramita allow any coast lander who enters the village by road without asking reasons for entering the village. The F Division commander must conduct investigations on the performance of his officers in the Baramita village.
Editor, the Baramita village needs a total rehabilitation so as to eradicate its current social ills and Minister Sydney Allicock needs to urgently visit Baramita on a fact- finding mission not for one day but fourteen days so as to strategically solve the problems at Baramita with its residents and not coastlanders.
Peter Persaud
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