Almost two months after gold mining activities were halted in Campbelltown, Region Eight, residents are threatening to take matters into their own hands as they can no longer afford to sustain their families, according to now-suspended Toshao, Marbel Thomas.
Mining operations in the community were halted on October 20 by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) after an inspection revealed that mining operations there were unsafe. This resulted in some residents petitioning for the removal of the Toshao and the village council, while accusing them of only allowing family members and foreigners to mine in the area.
When those accusations were brought to the attention of the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, she ordered that mining activities be halted until an investigation into the council was conducted.
The investigation has since been conducted and residents are now awaiting the decision of the Minister so that their mining activities can be restarted. And while they wait, the village council has devised a plan which will allow for mining operations to safely resume.
In a previous report, Thomas had disclosed that checkpoints and security huts had been constructed close to the mining areas so that the number of persons going into the pits could be monitored and there would be no overcrowding. At that time she had also mentioned that the plan was submitted to GGMC for their approval but to date the village council is still waiting for a response from the organization.
Meanwhile, Thomas has since been suspended from duties as Toshao as a result of the accusations brought against her.
In an interview with Stabroek News yesterday, Thomas said that residents are wondering how long they would have to wait until mining operations can resume. With Christmas on the horizon, she added, persons are getting restless and frustrated because they have no money as gold mining is their main source of income.
She noted that while persons engage in farming and in some instances, hunting, they are dependent on the money they earn from mining gold in order to survive.
In addition, many residents have been working alongside the village council to ensure that the mining pits are safe and they are abiding by the no-mining order imposed by the Ministry. However, come early next week, it will be two months since anyone conducted any mining activity.
Upon receiving the petition from a group of Campbelltown residents, Sukhai had promised that the matter would be concluded in early November but to date, although an investigation was done, no decision has been announced regarding the alleged illegal conduct of the council to date.
As a result of the long wait, she said, persons in the community are threatening to “take actions into their own hands” because they have no funds and they have families to sustain. She revealed that they told her that they will be only be waiting on word from the minister for one more week, but after that they will have to take action because nothing is being done to assist them especially since their main source of income was taken away from them unexpectedly.
