Dear Editor,
I recently visited the Karrau Amerindian village, very close to the green town of Bartica where I was confronted with numerous complaints of mining lawlessness by persons who own mining properties on Karrau’s village lands. Village residents are highly concerned that their resources are being harvested out because tributes of at least 7 per cent are not being paid to the Village Council to assist in village development, which is a total violation of the Amerindian Act 2006 (S 51 (1)). What is even worse is that village residents employed by the big miners are not being paid for their services. Further, gold mining activities are taking place within the proposed land extension area of the village, which have extended on to titled village lands. When the Village Council and even the village residents make complaints to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Bartica office these are ignored, and no investigations are carried out to stop the lawless mining activities taking place on Karrau’s titled lands. It must be noted that the big miners working on Karrau village lands are known to the GGMC Bartica office. The village residents have not been paid by one of the big miners since the year 2015, and are fed up with the Bartica mines office because their complaints are not being addressed. They are appealing to the Commis-sioner of the GGMC to assist them with their problem of mining lawlessness and intervene urgently.
Yours faithfully,
Peter Persaud
