Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, is decrying Government’s move to arrest Chenapau, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) miners at the Kaieteur National
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
Park, calling the move draconian and unnecessary.
According to the former President, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) while in office had adopted a different, more conciliatory approach towards these individuals. For instance, Jagdeo said the PPP had recognised the Indigenous residents’ right of free passage through the area.
“This is not the first time we have had illegal mining in the Park,” Jagdeo said. “But our approach was a very different one, in managing these parks. We managed to keep out commercial logging, without taking draconian action of the nature this Government has taken against the residents of Chenapau.”
“We have done that in the past, largely because there has always been a recognition by the PPP that wherever these parks are established people, especially Indigenous people, have the right of free passage through the parks.”
He juxtaposed this against the fact that some of the people who were arrested had
Minister of State Joseph Harmon
claimed that they were just in the park. In addition, he noted that the previous Government had recognised the subsistence farming and hunting that the miners did.
“We recognised that the Amerindian communities had the right to fish and hunt and to gather and to use these parks and their resources for subsistence activities, even logging. We did not have to resort to this callous, unconscionable act of arresting Amerindian people and drag them here to the city.”
The former President referred to the Government’s actions as callous and unconscionable and pointed out that those residents had a hard life already.
“We could have kept the integrity of the park as we did in the past, without taking these draconian actions against people who already have a hard life, in the wake of that flooding in Regions Seven and Eight.”
He expressed worry that the concept of a Green State, as espoused by President David Granger, was all about keeping the nation’s resources in a museum-like state for the international community. At the same time, he noted, while denying the rights of citizens to use the resources to get income and a livelihood.
Hard line
During a post-Cabinet press conference on Friday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon took a hard line to the issue.
Reminding the gathering that the area is a protected area, he noted that since it is part of the protected area system of Guyana, mining was not permitted under the law and further mining would see perpetrators arrested.
“In the 2011 Protected Areas Bill and which subsequently became an Act, there were certain provisions that were made in that Act and since then, the protected area was clearly demarcated.”
“And so, since we came into office this has been our second operation to expel illegal mining from the Kaieteur National Park. Mining is not one of the activities permitted under the law in that area.”
Government recently clamped down on illegal mining at the Kaieteur National Park, based on the directives of President David Granger.
The Kaieteur National Park is a no-mining zone and is protected under the laws of Guyana. Approximately 20 people were arrested in the joint forces operation.
