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Mining deaths warrant investigations, criminal prosecutions – says Major Gen (Ret’d) Joe Singh
Major General (Ret.) Joe Singh, as he handed over the Reynold
Williams CoI report to Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.
In the wake of a string of mining deaths which have had Commissions of Inquiry (CoI) held into them but have not been accompanied by criminal prosecutions, Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh is calling for a change to the trend.
Singh spearheaded the CoI into the country’s most recent mining pit fatality, that of 18-year-old Reynold Williams, which occurred on May 29, last. The Major General made his remarks while addressing a mining pit seminar yesterday.
According to the Major General, mining operators ought to be held accountable for unsafe practices on their concessions, which can lead to mining pit cave-ins. He did not spare those owners of mining blocks, who allow miners concessions, collect fees, but do not monitor reckless practices.
“We have too many absentee landlords,” he said. “People who have a licence and some of them just allocate positions for small miners, pay very little or no attention to who’s mining there, the type of mining they are doing, safety and regulations, but collect the tributes.”
“And then you see the unsafe activities and environmental damage taking place within their property. Why aren’t these persons who are the licensed owners of the property being held accountable?
“Deaths, in my view, not only warrant an investigation, but somebody who is criminally liable,” he pointed out. “So the negligence that I and others have seen begs the question. What action is being taken against persons who, through their own negligence and lack of interest in what is happening on their property, allow breaches of safety and environmental damage?”
Maj Gen. Singh noted that from his interactions with Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) field staff, a lot more remained to be done.
The Reynold Williams story
Singh detailed a heart breaking story about how young Williams, who died on his first day of work, was determined to secure work at the pit that would ultimately claim his life. According to Maj Gen Singh, Williams was initially refused by the owner, but he never gave up.
“He came to Mahdia to look for work, and he went to the (operation) owner. And the owner said, look I have a full crew. I don’t have any vacancy. But he hung around the camp doing odd jobs until out of the kindness of his heart the owner said, ‘Ok go down to the pit and let them know that I sent you. You will be a pit man.” “First day on the job, that’s when he died. I have had to break enough news to relatives of my soldiers. But it’s not easy to be telling a mother her son died because of a mining accident.” “They are so remote you have t0 describe. So I had to call her from Mahdia and explain. Sometimes (we) get caught up in the physics and the mechanics of the collapse and forget the human aspect.”
Noting the sheer amount of dead miners in recent times, figures for which were quoted in the CoI report into the May 17, 2015 Mowasi, Potaro mining pit collapse which claimed almost a dozen lives, Maj Gen Singh painted a dismal picture comparative to Guyana’s minute population.
According to the findings of the CoI into the Williams accident, conducted by a team led by the Major General, there was a marked absence of contingency plans for safety and rescue, personnel were poorly trained and basic supplies for any potential injuries were lacking. This report was handed over to Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman on June 9, 2016.
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