Scrap metal dealers and workers yesterday protested the resumption of a ban on the trade, which was prompted by the resurgence of vandalism.
Scrap metal dealers, scrap metal sorters and members of the Guyana Metal Recycle Association quietly picketed the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), at Kingston.
Dealers and workers were upset that they were not given any notification of the ban, which was made with immediate effect on Tuesday. “We weren’t warned before and we were trying to do our best to have them [dealers] straighten in a more orderly fashion,” said Desmond Sears of the Metal Recycle Association.
The sudden ban has stalled the exporting of some 200 containers, which were ready to ship.
“We want the government to raise the ban, to take back the decision they have made to ban the scrap metal trade, because if you look at the effect it’s having, these people will be out of a job [and] their homes will be affected,” Keeran Singh of Netram and Sons said. She noted too that there was no warning of the ban.
“…What they had asked us to do was to cooperate. Scrap metal dealers must cooperate so they could get rid of these vandals. We coordinated the recent capturing of these vandals who vandalise GuySuCo. We were the ones who coordinated with them. The guys came to sell us, we knew that this wasn’t right [and] we called GuySuCo head of security, police…we are honest scrap metal people and we are trying to keep the trade clean,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, scrap metal workers are also put out with the ban. Says Michael Isles, “I have a kid and a wife to mind plus I have ma house rent to pay and them thing and I doing this hey fuh a honest dollar fuh maintain ma home and them thing. Me aint have no where else to turn.”
Several other workers said that they were dependent on the monies earned from selling scrap metal. “I wukin on de wuk a good while and I just like the wuk and thing and I aint want the PM stop de [trade] because if it stop and them thing, it gun just cause violence and them thing and I aint want that to happen,” said one of the protesters.
OPM announced the ban on Tuesday, saying that in light of the recent resurgence of vandalism it had instituted an immediate suspension of the trading of ferrous metal scrap until further notice.
It said also that the trading in non-ferrous metal scrap remains closed.
The OPM advisory cited the specific case of the vandalism of punts belonging to GuySuCo, which last week said two of its cane harvesters were in police custody following a sting operation, in which they were caught destroying transport punts to be resold as scrap metal.
Less than a year ago, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds had suspended the sale of scrap metal in response to complaints of vandalism of private and state property, which included the desecration of tombs.
There was particular concern about the removal of installations from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority sites and the Lama Conservancy, GuySuCo’s pumping facilities and the rails around graves in churchyards and accessible burial grounds. The suspension was later lifted after scrap metal dealers lobbied President Bharrat Jagdeo and agreed to stricter rules for their trade.
In the past, the utility companies, and particularly the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL), had complained about vandalism at the hands of scrap metal thieves.
Hinds had also instituted a ban effective from January 1, 2007 following similar trends in illegal activities. Subsequently, the Old Metal Dealers Act was amended granting government the authority over the scrap metal trade and the right to impose fines and criminal charges if necessary.
