Dear Editor,
There is a deliberate attempt by some members of the GGMC to silence me for exposing their corrupt practices. I drew this conclusion from how the Commission addresses matters that are of concern to me in my individual capacity, or when I stand as a representative of the group of bona fide residents of Kurupung.
I came to this realization during a meeting which was organized by the commissioner to address all matters of concern to me within his organization. At that forum, only one matter came up for discussion — the issue of a missing claim file.
The matter that was chosen for discussion was serving some members of the commission’s interest, because they are bent on covering up the atrocities of their colleagues.
They were being selective in giving answers, rather than bringing a resolution to all matters affecting me. At that meeting, I requested an investigation into a missing claim file after I was led to believe by a senior staff that there were two of the same files for me in the system, when in fact there is only one. This was a mistake made by the cashier on my claim licence application receipt.
In attempting to make the correction, a senior mines officer related there’s no issue with having more than one claim with the same name, because the serial/HO numbers are unique. The missing claim file issue was reported in a letter dated August 14, 2017.
If the commissioner had chosen the letter addressed to him two days prior to the August 14, 2017 letter, he would have been able to touch on critical issues which are beneficial to me and the bona fide residents of Kurupung.
It seems as though those issues were too sensitive for discussion, and would only lead to more cover-ups. There are numerous letters that were written to be addressed by the commissioner (ag) and his predecessor, which they both stubbornly refused to address. Two of those letters were sent by our then lawyer, now Minister Mr. Joseph Harmon, in January and February, 2014.
Four years have since passed and the Commission is yet to respond to those two letters. I had followed up with several letters of my own, reiterating my request for an investigation into those matters of our concern as a bona fide resident of Kurupung, and in my individual capacity. Most of the requests made went unanswered.
The few that were attempted by the commission were deliberately prepared with inaccurate information and yielded no result.
At commencement of the last meeting, the commissioner decided to release some of his pent-up energy by telling me that I took my stories to all heights and lengths to state that he has been covering up corruption and this is the last time he’s going to address my situation; and if I am not satisfied, I could take the matter to the court.
He then opened the floor to his colleagues, which comprised three heads of department.
In my opinion, the ulterior motive of the meeting was clearly demonstrated, and that was to BLAME and SHAME me in order to SILENCE me for my reporting, and the request for answers to those atrocities which are taking place under his watch.
I also thought the commissioner had a greater amount of stored energy to exhale at the end of the meeting, from the level of energy I felt every time I was interrupted during the course of the meeting. When it was discovered by me that the mistake had actually come from the cashier’s department, the atmosphere in the room changed, and the interruption became more frequent. I was unable to express myself due to the frequent interruption from members of the group before the commissioner brought the meeting to an abrupt end.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the commissioner had changed from his initial stand of his last hearing on the matter, to a two-week ultimatum to produce relative documents to support my case, or he would strike out the matter that was in front of him.
I welcome the new normal/beginning by the commissioner on the time limit into dealing with matters, if it is across-the-board and is not conveniently used to his advantage. Although I had supplied the relevant information to the commissioner before the allotted time, his response is still not forthcoming.
I left the meeting with a stronger sense of a cover-up by some officials of the high echelons of the GGMC.
I have many reasons to believe that the situation is worse than I previously thought. I do hope my speculations are wrong.
Sincerely,
Suffering miner
