Despite consultations at the highest level with the security services, gold and diamond miners are not satisfied that their security needs are being met.
They are now insisting that they have to look out for themselves since the massacre that occurred at the Lindo Creek camp about three weeks ago could have happened at any other mining camp.
Admitting that they still want to help the police and continue to work with the security forces, the members of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) at their 26th Annual General Meeting yesterday afternoon made it clear that security was still an issue for them and believe that their case has since been swept under the table.
Vice-president of the association, retired Army Major General (rtd) Norman Mc Lean in a brief presentation to members said that discussions in this regard were getting nowhere especially where co-operation with the police is concerned.
He said too that it was still a major problem for miners to even access firearm licences.
He proposed that acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene be invited to meet with members to hear their concerns. This met with nods of approval from the audience.
“In this way we could raise certain issues because right now we are not making any headway; the police are protecting themselves and so we have to protect ourselves if they can’t protect us,” Mc Lean argued.
He pointed to a proposal which the mining community had made to the police in the past whereby they would appoint two workers who could assist the police in times of emergency but said that proposal was misinterpreted by the police.
According to him the police felt that the two members of each camp would be designated permanently to carry out certain duties to effect law and order while they remained on the miner’s payroll. He insisted that this was not what was meant by the proposal.
“But at the highest level there seems to be no priority being placed on ensuring that this problem is addressed,” he said. He said too that there were many rumours that wanted man Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins was in several mining communities and still on the run. To this end he reiterated, “we have to look out for ourselves, we have to be able to defend ourselves.”
GGDMA Secretary Edward Shields highlighted that during discussions with the security services the miners had raised the issue of illegal shops and the need for there to be regularization of the Brazilians occupying several areas, but nothing has since been done.
He said the association has even gone as far as to provide a mobile outpost which could be utilized by rural constables in interior locations, however he said the outpost remains in central George-town. Association President Alfro Alphonso pointed out that the Lindo Creek attack in which eight miners were slaughtered was indeed sad, advising his fellow miners that ‘it could have been any of us’.
To this end he said he could not understand why it was so difficult for a dredge owner to get a firearm licence. He said the difficulty still existed even if those persons are recommended by the association.
Stakeholder forum
The association yesterday recognized the urgent need for all stakeholders in the industry to come together for a stakeholders’ forum where they would come up with Standard Operating Procedures where all could understand their role.
Shields pointed out that that there has been an ongoing problem where some village councils in some communities have been playing one miner off against the other. In some cases the situation has resulted in some communities negotiating with miners who do not have mining licences.
He noted that the association had no objection to the Amerindian Act and neither for community members to benefit from minerals extracted from the lands.
According to him however there is a law which states clearly that sub-surface minerals belong to the state and so he feels that while the persons in those communities have a right to say they do not want their communities mined, they cannot allocate areas to miners and neither could they choose which miner they prefer to mine and where. He explained that the miner must have an agreement with the village council and that a document is signed.
Issues relating to the maintenance of roads in mining areas and also a proposal being looked at for miners to be allowed to temporarily divert roads and then take responsibility for repairing them was discussed at yesterday’s meeting.
The association held its 26th AGM in its very own building purchased last year, located at 29 North Road, Bourda.
Shields told members that plans are in train for the association to be self- sustaining.
The association is also looking to conduct a study on the spin-offs of the industry locally.
(Heppilena Ferguson)
