KINDLY publish this letter in your widely read newspaper. I wish to refer to Toshao Dhaness Larson’s letter in the Stabroek News under the caption “Delay in hearing of Appeal causing disruption in everyday village activities” in its issue of Monday July 05,2010.
Please allow me to state the following: 1. Isseneru is a Titled Amerindian Village situated in the middle Mazaruni, Region Number Seven. Isseneru was granted village status in the year 2007 by His Excellency the President of Guyana. This means that the residents of Isseneru Village have legal ownership of their village lands which is now administered by a Village Council, a corporate body.
2. Mr Dhaness Larson is the duly elected Toshao of the Isseneru Village and has always expressed concern over the long delay of his village’s land matters with a Coastland miner in the High Court. This is an appeal case by the Isseneru Village Council since 2007.
3. The Coastland miner was granted mining blocks in the Isseneru community by the GGMC prior to Isseneru becoming a legally titled village.
4. Since the Isseneru community is now a titled village and administered by a Village Council, any permission for mining on village lands is given by two-thirds of a Village General Meeting (Sec, 48 of the Amerindian Act 2006).
5. The Coastland miner never received permission or consent from an Isseneru Village General Meeting, hence, the court action brought against the Isseneru Village Council.
6. The Coastland miner, however, continues his mining activities on village lands that are legally owned by the Isseneru residents, while not complying with Section 48 of the Amerindian Act.
7. As a result of the miner’s gold mining activities on Isseneru’s Village lands, the Village Council is unable to give strategic direction to the village (Section 13 (1) (B) of the Amerindian Act).
8. The miner’s entry to Isseneru Village lands continue to be illegal since such entry is without the permission of the Village Council (Section 5 (1) of the Amerindian Act).
9. The Indigenous residents of Isseneru are unable to carry out their cultural and traditional activities due to gold mining activities conducted by the miner.
10. The residents of Isseneru Vilalge are now unable to do mining for a living because they are given cease work orders by the GGMC on the grounds that they are trespassing on the miner’s properties. On Wednesday July 7, 2010, a resident was given a cease work order by the GGMC for his proposed mining activities.
11. The residents of Isseneru Village are fed up with the situation and are claiming that their village title appears to be useless and may have to return the title document to government.
12. Residents are also contending that if there is no change in the present situation they are prepared to come to Georgetown for a picketing demonstration.
13. It must be noted that the Amerindian Act 2006 is an Act enacted by the Parliament of Guyana to provide for the recognition and protection of the Collective rights of Amerindian villages and communities, the granting of land to Amerindian villages and communities and the promotion of good governance within Amerindian Village and communities.
14. Every human being on earth must therefore fully respect and uphold the provision of our Amerindian Act, the law that governs our villages and communities.
15. We the residents of Isseneru village want to live in peace and freedom with our environment and not to be disrupted or dislocated by the perpetrators of exploitation and greed.
16. We firmly recognise that no one can interfere with the judicial system or process, but we the residents of Isseneru humbly appeal to the Honourable Chief Justice (ag) Mr Ian Chang to accelerate the speed for an early hearing into the Isseneru Village Council appeal case presently in the High Court.
17. We the residents of Isseneru Village are also calling on the Amerindian organisations, other civil society bodies, political parties and the government to give us their just and moral support in our time of sadness and pain.