Protection for small miners will be addressed – VP Jagdeo

…promises to take issues affecting mining industry to Cabinet

Making it clear that the administration sees protecting small miners from being bullied by larger concession holders as an important issue, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has committed to taking the matters affecting the sector before cabinet, once those matters are captured in report form.
The Vice President gave this assurance during a recent stakeholder session with members of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA). Other stakeholders, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Commissioner Newell Dennison, were present.

“I would like to see, out of this meeting, maybe a dedicated engagement that you will follow up on all of these matters that deal with GGMC. It has to be a robust engagement, and out of that we want to see a report that I will take to the Cabinet to ensure that a lot of the issues that have been raised, that we try to definitively resolve them,” Vice President Jagdeo has said.
“Because they’ve been festering for a long time, and they must focus on what I said before: Efficient discharge of duty in a fair, impartial manner; and safeguards against capricious acts and corruption. So those would be the terms of reference,” he said.
According to Jagdeo, he wants the report to detail what the Government can do institutionally, as well as monitor the staff members who are deployed into the fields.
Jagdeo also noted the importance of protecting miners. “We have to find a fair way safeguarding people who have mining permits, at the same time ensuring that there is more land and opportunities for small miners, and small miners must also feel like they are an important part of the sector, and treated fairly,” he explained.
“So, some mechanism for doing this (must be found), and I expect that the GGDMA and the large miners would work with us in ensuring that that happens. You have to have a live-and-let-live philosophy in this industry,” Jagdeo added.
Jagdeo also noted that there are times in the industry when very large mining companies try to force small miners off of their concessions. Jagdeo made an appeal that they can all co-exist, while noting that a mechanism must be found for this to happen: more land to be allocated, and small miners to be better protected.
“Other things have to be done. The roads we will continue. There is a programme about roads. We’ll have to meet again and talk about how we do roads in the future. And so that will be ongoing. And I hope the current projects, which exceed $2 billion, will be implemented quickly,” he said.
During the meeting, Jagdeo announced close to $2 billion in relief for the mining community in yet another series of Government interventions geared towards providing relief in light of the rise in the cost of living and input costs.
According to Jagdeo, among the measures is the reduction of final tax on the income of miners from 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. He explained that this reduction would put a total of $1.4 billion back into the pockets of miners.
Another decision was to remove the tributors’ tax, which was 10 per cent. While this was not a manifesto promise, some of the factors that went into this decision were the difficulty in collecting it, and the fact that it would benefit small miners.
Jagdeo further announced the removal of the 14 per cent VAT on lube oil. According to him, this would be applicable across all industries.
Jagdeo’s announcements came on the same day that President Dr Irfaan Ali announced the roll-out of a one-off cash grant to the tune of $150,000, which will go to each of the thousands of registered local fisherfolk across the country.
Earlier this month, President Ali had also announced a series of ground-breaking measures, ranging from cash grants to households in hinterland and riverine communities to the provision of free fertilizers for farmers, which are aimed at improving the lives of citizens.
Among the announcements was the distribution of a one-off $25,000 cash grant to every household in the riverine and hinterland communities of the country. This measure, according to Ali, would result in $800 million being pumped into the economy, and would cushion the impacts of the rising cost of living.