— on Suriname’s harassment of local fisherfolk, failure to honour agreement to grant 150 licences

VICE-PRESIDENT, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said Guyana will be writing CARICOM on the harassment of local fishermen by Surinamese authorities and that country’s failure to honour a written agreement with Guyana to provide 150 licences to local fisherfolk.

Speaking to hundreds of fisherfolk at the Port Mourant and Skeldon Community Centre grounds on Friday, where the $150,000 grant for them was launched, the Vice-President said Guyana has had enough from its Dutch-speaking neighbour.

“We recognised the injustices that are meted out to fishermen from Guyana. We recognise the capricious nature of the Surinamese Government and the corruption in Suriname that is preventing this issue from being resolved,” he said.

Dr Jagdeo added: “There are officials in Suriname who are totally corrupt and do not want to see this matter resolved because it affects their pockets…. It seems as though that these individuals whoever they are — are so powerful in Suriname – that they can negate a promise made by the President of Suriname.”

In July of this year, three Guyanese fishermen were detained by Surinamese authorities for fishing in that country’s waters and their vessels were seized. The men detained were identified as Ramesh Ramchand and Mahendra Bissessar of Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and Troy Tyrell of Lusignan, ECD.

CONDEMNATION
On September 5, the Government of Guyana in a statement condemned the harassment of Guyanese fisherfolk by the Surinamese Government, inclusive of its failure to grant licences to local fishermen in keeping with the commitment made to President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, on November 26, 2020, during a visit to Suriname.

During the November 2020 visit, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha had met with Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Minister of Suriname, Parmanand Sewdien, and requested the issuance of 150 SK licences which would allow Guyanese fishermen to ply their trade in Suriname’s Ocean waters.

Minister Mustapha recalled the earlier discussions between President Ali and the President of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, that there should be an agreement on the issuance of the number of licences requested by Guyana.

Minister Sewdien, the statement said, also indicated that his government would form a company that will deal with the issuing of licences to the Guyanese fishermen.
At the last meeting of President Ali and President Santokhi in Georgetown, it was agreed that by January 1, 2022, arrangements would have been put in place to facilitate the issuance of the 150 SK licences to Guyanese fishermen.

The statement noted that taking into account this decision, Minister Mustapha, via a letter dated November 16, 2021, submitted to his Surinamese counterpart the names of the persons interested in being issued licences.
The Government of Guyana has not yet been advised on the status of the establishment of the company referred to, nor on the issuance of the licences.

Guyana said in the absence of the issuance of these licences, local fisherfolk continue to face harassment at the hands of the Surinamese authorities, including fishing vessels [being] stranded in Suriname and cannot return to Guyana for fear of losing their licences, as it calls on Suriname to honour its commitment to issue the licences.

Addressing a well-attended gathering at the Skeldon Community Centre Ground, Dr Jagdeo did not mince words in airing his concerns on the matter.

MORE POWERFUL
“The Minister of Agriculture [of Suriname] seems to be more powerful than the President of Suriname and what has happened since some of the corruption in Suriname has been exposed, where a small group of people controlling these licences and then trying to rip off Guyanese fishermen by renting the licences to them, once that was exposed they have now dug in, they seem to want to punish the people who have exposed them in this regard.”

Recently, he said President Ali had informed him that President Santokhi promised that the fish catches would be landed in Guyana, but this is yet to happen because the Agriculture Minister of Suriname seems to be more powerful than anyone in the neighbouring country.

Guyana, he said cannot any longer trust Suriname at the bilateral level to resolve the issues on licences and harassment of local fisherfolk. On this note, he said Guyana’s strategy will change, CARICOM will be written to on these matters and Guyana is going to “play hard ball.”

“So we cannot continue like this forever. We know that they control fishing in their waters and they have a right to licence whomever they wish to,” the Vice-President said, pointing out that Guyana also has a right in this country to deal with Surinamese businesses operating here on a reciprocal basis.

He said for too long now Guyana has been “tip-toeing” around the licences and harassment issues by working at the diplomatic level, but the commitment of Suriname seems not to worth the paper it is written on.

He said Guyana had similar issues with Trinidad and Tobago whereby that country would not allow local agricultural produce to enter its market by putting up a range of phytosanitary restrictions, even though their companies operate freely in Guyana. Guyana demanded reciprocal behaviour from Trinidad and Tobago and will be doing the same with Suriname, the Vice-President said.