Latest update February 9th, 2025 1:59 PM
Latest News
- Gunmen rob money changer at America Street
- Couple dies in fire at Hydronie, EBE
- “Oil-rich Guyana is worse off from the very start”- Glenn Lall
- Terrence Campbell to remain member of oil money Investment Committee despite transparency concerns in use of revenues
- Trump freezes aid to South Africa amid spat over land expropriation law
No mining land, ‘landlordism’ causes miners to block road in protest
-One arrested
A miner was arrested on Thursday as scores of miners blocked the road leading to Mowasi,
A section of the road that was blocked on Thursday.
Region Eight, protesting the lack of mining lands in the area after mining company Tussouro Resources set up operations in the area and prevented them from working.
The man arrested was identified as Garfield Wint, of Linden. He was subsequently brought to Georgetown. According to one miner in Konawaruk, the company has been depriving small, local miners of the little land they had and even blocked them from carrying out their operations.
It is this, the miner related, coupled with the frustration of waiting for land allocation by the authorities and the lack of government intervention that caused the miners to take matters into their own hands.
The protest action was planned days before and on Thursday, branches and tree trunks were placed on the road way to prevent vehicles from passing. However, this did not go down well with the police in the area who showed up at the scene, cleared the blockade and arrested the miner.
Following the arrest of their colleague, the protestors retuned the next day but took a different approach. They stood along the road airing their concerns instead of dragging branches and tree trunks.
Commander of ‘F’ Division, Ravindradat Budhram, said yesterday that the police had to take the necessary steps to ensure passage to Mowasi since the protest action was not a peaceful one. He also stated that the road has been cleared and vehicles can continue to traverse.
Bullyism
According to sources, the issue of landlordism throughout Guyana and in that particular area is rampant. The protest is the by product of years of frustration and desperation experienced by the small miners.
A still from the video taken of the Konawaruk mining camp attack last year. Here, Mario Figueira can be seen trying to bar the attack.
Sources indicate that large companies in the interior have taken to forming personal ‘quasi’ military-like security forces, which carry out their every command while heavily armed. Some of these security guards are said to be former police and army ranks and officers.
There have been complaints of large operations allowing miners to mine on their vast land until they “lash out”, i.e get unexpectedly large gold deposits.
At this point, Kaieteur News understands, these companies would then send their security forces to forcibly remove or threaten the small miners or block their operations. Once the hapless miner removes from the site, the area is disposed of as the company sees fit.
This state of affairs has been blamed on corruption and weak policing in the interior. Miners have gone so far as to describe the situation in the interior as Guyana’s equivalent of the ‘Wild West’.
A case which highlights the small miner’s plight is the case of the Konawaruk, White Water backdam mining camp attack. On May 10, last year, the mining camp of Mario and Aliecia Figueira at Konawaruk, District H45 was invaded by shotgun toting men dressed as security guards.
The men then proceeded to spray the camp with shotgun pellets, all the while declaring that they had been sent to destroy the camp. Besides damages amounting to millions of dollars, an employee was also shot in the head.
Notwithstanding fears for their own safety, the mining couple overcame obstacles with the result that four men stand before the courts charged with the attack. The men are Jason and Quincy Critchlow, Troy Pellew and Godfrey Christmas.
While the case is currently in Mahdia, Region Eight, security concerns have caused the couple to agitate for the case to be moved to Georgetown. They have also expressed little faith in the course of justice in Mahdia.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
You cannot borrow your way to prosperity
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News-The Jagdeo Doctrine is an absurd, reckless, and fundamentally shortsighted economic fallacy.... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
