-as villagers maintain opposition to mining operation
Following a standoff last month with a miner seeking to begin operations upriver of Kako village, the toshao of the remote Amerindian community will have to appear before the court for refusing to allow the miner to pass despite a court order.
Mario Hastings has been served with a notice of motion seeking his imprisonment “for wilful and brazen disobedience and contempt” of an order granted on August 20 directing that the equipment of miner, Belina Charlie, be allowed to pass. Hastings will have to appear in court on Monday.
“This is not fair. Our rights as a people are being violated,” Hastings said at a press conference at the Sidewalk Café yesterday. “We have seen a lot of impacts being caused by mining so because of this our people are strongly opposing any mining activity (upriver),” he said.
Stabroek News had reported last month that three times this year, villagers rushed to their boats, faced off with Charlie and rejected letters from officials, a court order and pleas to allow the gold mining equipment to pass. Each time the dredge was forced to return downriver.
Residents of Kako, an Akawaio Amerindian community on the banks of the Kako River in Region Seven fear that the Kako River might become the next to be polluted and so have resolved to prevent dredges from moving upriver from the community. Mining blocks have been granted on lands upstream but no miner has sought to move to those areas until recently. The area is two and a half miles outside the community’s titled land but residents consider that land as traditional land and it is the subject of a court case. Some also reside in the area.
The miner had attempted to pass three times but was blocked by villagers and by the third attempt on October 3, Charlie had obtained an ex-parte injunction against Hastings as toshao, the village council, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Attorney-General. It essentially said they were not allowed to stop the miner from moving upstream, Hastings had related.
“Kako is one of the few rivers that have not been involved in any mining activity,” Hastings reiterated yesterday. He said that despite the GGMC saying that the village will not be impacted, they have provided no evidence of this.
The village leader also said that the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs seems to be in support of the miner and he cited the letter by Minister Pauline Sukhai telling the villagers to allow the miner to pass. Apart from this letter, which was shown to the villagers by Charlie, the ministry has not communicated with the village despite a letter from the council to her, he said. Hastings added that it is only when things get worse that the authorities try to do something and stressed that they should have taken preventative action. He also called upon the authorities and other sympathetic organizations to help in resolving the matter.
‘Disrespect’
Attorney for the community Nigel Hughes, pointing out that there are two matters in court – the injunction and the contempt matter – said that the ultimate hope is that the court recognizes the right of the people of Kako to all their land. He also pointed out that there have been no consultations with the people. “They have been treated with total and absolute disregard,” he said. The attorney said that there is “clearly an ongoing collision between the fundamental right of the first people to their land and the reported distribution” of mining concessions. He said that the operations would adversely impact on the people and is a breach of their fundamental rights. While not willing to disclose more, Hughes said that the matter is “certainly going to be challenged.”
Other toshaos from the Upper Mazaruni, who are in Georgetown for the continuation of an ongoing court case involving land, are supporting Hastings. “We would like to express our concerns over the ongoing disrespect shown to us by authorities for our basic rights, especially the rights to security on our lands, and the threat of imprisonment of one of our leaders (Hastings),” Leita John, the toshao of Jawalla said, reading from a prepared statement. “Toshao Hastings is being taken to court by a miner who is seeking his imprisonment because his people dared to take steps to protect their lands from what could mean destruction in the near future,” she added.
“This case raises serious concerns that have been brought to various government officials and other agencies over the years, concerns that have not been addressed and where all of the Upper Mazaruni communities stand to be negatively affected,” John said.
“As leaders we are not in favour of disobeying the law but we also expect that our lives and livelihood such as our health, farming, fishing, right to clean water and a safe environment and others are protected. Those rights must not be overlooked because of the mining interest or any other extractive activity,” she added.
“To date we have been knocking on doors but those in their safe dwellings do not hear us. The minister’s letter and the non-response to our concerns clearly show who she is supporting. Likewise we have made representation to the GGMC yet they continue to grant concessions on our traditional lands. We are left to figure out what is our next course of action. The laws do not adequately protect our rights but our calls to reform these have fallen on deaf ears yet these are the same laws that are being cited as giving us all rights,” she said.
“Since 1998 we have been seeking the court’s judgment on our land rights. We are now seeing the Kako case as an example of our fears coming true. We only now know that the area has been opened to mining and that others may be seeking to get into the area to carry out mining activities. This could mean a lot more problems for us and we are fearful that other rivers and tributaries could become polluted and damaged like the Mazaruni River. From all evidence we are the only ones looking into our interest and instead of our issues being addressed the matters are being complicated through the issuing of multiple mining permits in our area,” John added.
