Following an allegation that the Village Council of Campbelltown has been preventing residents from mining, Minister of Amerindian Affairs (MoAA) Pauline Sukhai has taken the decision to suspend Toshao Marbel Thomas until an investigation into the matter is completed.
The Region Eight village council was informed of Sukhai’s decision on Tuesday by way of letter and members have since expressed their dissatisfaction insisting that Free, Prior and Informed Consent protocols be followed as they are yet to be officially informed of the allegation/s against them.
Several attempts by Stabroek News to contact the Minister for a comment were unsuccessful.
On October 20th, Earl Gildharie and a few residents of the indigenous community handed over a petition signed by 130 residents to Sukhai seeking the removal of Thomas, her deputy, Samantha John and other councillors of the village council alleging that the council was only allowing certain residents and foreigners to conduct mining activities in the community.
“The ministry will examine the petition in detail and seek to address it in a manner that provides for natural justice and that is, to ensure that the Toshao is notified about the petition and the matters of the petition including the allegation of the council being improperly installed and we will take it from there,” a statement by the Ministry had said.
However, although the Minister had said that the council will be notified about the allegations made in the petition, members of the Village Council say this has not been done and to date they are yet to receive a copy of the petition.
During a previous interview with Stabroek News, Thomas had stated that the village council had approached the Minister in order to get a copy of the petition so they could understand the nature of the allegations but Sukhai had refused and told the council that it was up to the investigative team to decide whether the council should see the petition.
Section 27
Meanwhile, in a letter seen by Stabroek News dated November 6th, Sukhai informed the council that she was in receipt of a petition for the removal of the Toshao and other councillors of the Campbelltown Village Council. She stated that she has appointed a committee to carry out an investigation under section 27 of the Amerindian Act (AA) and this was done on November 11th, a few days after the letter was written.
“I have given due consideration to the serious nature of some of the allegations contained in the petition which prima facie would bring the office of the Toshao into disrepute and significantly affect the council to administer the village. Therefore, in the best interest of the village, I hereby exercise my discretion under section 28(3) of the Act to suspend you as Toshao with effect from the date of appointment of the committee as stated above until the determination of this matter following the receipt of the report from the investigation commit-tee,” Sukhai wrote in the letter.
In addition, it was stated that the Deputy Toshao will act as Toshao until the determination of the matter and that the investigation was scheduled to commence on November 16 and the committee will be headed by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament Yvonne Pearson.
In a statement sent to Stabroek News yesterday by members of the village council, it was said that although they requested a copy of the petition in order to make an official response to the allegations, they were never provided with that “privilege” but instead were served with a letter on November 17, suspending the Toshao, who to date is only aware of an allegation made public by the Minister.
“While we the Village Council have agreed for the law to take its course following the Amerindian Act of 2006 under section 28:4 we can certainly say that we have not been given a fair chance to respond. The petition is not a private matter it is public, therefore the Council should be the first to be given a copy. We were told by Minister Sukhai that the committee for investigation would determine when to give us a copy but our Free, Prior and Informed Consent protocol must be followed by the Minister and we will not allow anyone to take advantage of Campbelltown/Prince-ville Council. This is certainly a political strategy used by Minister Sukhai to remove our Toshao … We the Council have the right to be heard and to defend all allegations made against us!” the statement added.
Confused
When contacted Thomas told Stabroek News that she is confused about the recent development because from what she understands the petition was seeking the removal of the entire village council yet she is the only one suspended which indirectly indicates that Sukhai might have a personal reason for doing so. “My only conclusion is that it’s a political strategy, I don’t think that it is the government’s doing so I would more say it’s the minister’s plan,” she added.
Nevertheless, Thomas said that she has no objections to an investigation being conducted but the Minister’s actions has made it hard to believe that a fair investigation will be conducted. She noted that it is provided for by law that an individual be given a fair chance to respond and defend themselves against an allegation but so far that was not done as they are still not privy to the contents of the petition.
“Presently we still haven’t received any copy of the petition so to date we don’t have proof that a petition was filed against the council and they are coming to do an investigation which I have no objection to but whatever they are doing is not in keeping with the laws. So when the investigation starts we don’t have confidence that it’s going to happen in the correct way and that we are going to be treated fairly as the actions by the Minister clearly shows that minister is not giving us a fair investigation and under the constitution of Guyana we have to right as an individual to be heard and to also defend ourselves and the we must be given enough time and we must be given correct information,” she said.
In a previous report, Thomas said the decision to limit mining activities by the village council was based on the advice of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), which found the operations unsafe.
She explained that in mid-September there was a gold rush within the community and this brought many artisanal miners to the area who immediately started conducting mining activities. She noted that since then, these small-scale miners worked 24/7 until recently when the GGMC issued a cease order demanding that all mining activities in the community be stopped until the safety issues were resolved.
Thomas added that on the October 6, GGMC made its first official visit to the area where the gold was discovered. During its visit, she said, the GGMC officers conducted an inspection of the area and concluded that it was very unsafe to do mining in that specific area. In addition, she said, they were told that they had to make the area safer for people to do mining activities.
Based on the advice given by the GGMC officials, she said, the village council decided that they would do their best to make the area safe for the miners and so they held a meeting in the area and explained to the miners that they would have to stop working for 3 days so the area can be “fixed.” However, some residents were displeased with the decision of the council and later petitioned to have them removed.
No mining activities have been conducted in the community of more than 900 residents since October 20th.
