Dear Editor
REPRESENTATIVES of the small miners who attended the meeting held on January 16, 2017 with Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, and officials of GRA are very disappointed with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) for a press release it had issued.
First of all, the GGDMA has been treating all Small Miners as ITINERANT MINERS and the days for such treatment are over. Fact 1: We were invited to that meeting and we attended.
2: We were the ones who attended that meeting with a positive plan and recommended solutions for small miners.
3: When asked at the meeting by the minister to speak, the GGDMA and GWMO were very undecided as to who will speak first, because they had nothing of substance or truth to say.
4: When asked by the minister “What are your proposals?”, They had nothing to say except embarrassingly, “we will get back to you minister.”
5: The Small Miners declared that they were not enjoying the benefits from concessions received by GGDMA.
Because of the presence of the representatives of the Small Miners, there were some fruits:
1: A help desk is to be set up at the various GGMC offices to assist miners in educating them of their taxes.
2: Once miners are tax-compliant, they can enjoy rebates and tax concessions.
3: Small groups can now form syndicates and apply for lands. So the big fishes wouldn’t be the only landlords.
Small miners did not derail the meeting, because we came out with results for us. The fact that we were told the big ones were the defaulters and robbing the Government of their taxes by being untruthful with their declarations of production, while at the same time expanding their personal assets. It is time the GGDMA stops manipulating small miners and stop claiming lands in the name of SMALL MINERS,when it is for their personal enrichment. The President of the GGDMA needs to tell small miners what is the process used to receive fifteen (15) blocks for himself and twenty (20) blocks for the GGDMA in the name of SMALL MINERS.
The GGDMA has been very disrespectful to Minister Broomes, but we would like to commend her for her hard work and dedication towards the upliftment of Small Miners.
To the GWMO executives, you need to focus on the MOTTO and OBJECTIVES of the organisation and stop being hypnotised by the GGDMA.
Judith Blair
Representative of Small Miners