Some miners and residents in Bartica showed their militancy by participating in the protest organised on Monday in the mining town. I find it surprising though that the organisers were able to mobilise the financial resources for an exercise of such a scale to protest against compliance with the laws of the country.

As Prime Minister Sam Hinds said in an interview on Monday night, miners have for too long been getting away with murder in the interior.

Their operations have led to untold damage to forests, rivers and the landscape and some have been trying to excuse this by saying that mining provides revenue to the government and employment for many Guyanese.

The revenue and employment bit is true but Guyana’s natural resources cannot be exploited only for miners. These resources belong to all Guyanese and exploitation practices have to be tailored so as to ensure these are sustainable, that they benefit generations yet to come and do not compromise the interests of other stakeholders including forestry operators and the indigenous Amerindian communities.

There have been many calls in the past for mining to be brought under greater control to minimise the devastation on the environment and I support the government as it moves to implement these reforms.

As I understand it, these laws or regulations are not new and what the government is trying to do is to ensure better coordination between logging and mining.

What’s so wrong with that?
Communities like Bartica need to understand these issues. It’s good that they can be mobilised to demonstrate but they have to be careful that they are not misled by others with different agendas.