After much work in the Le Repentir Cemetery under the Government of Guyana “Clean-Up My Country” programme, persons accessing the cemetery and those dwelling within its outskirts are not only pleased to see the overgrown vegetation removed, but the numerous swarms of bees which have infested the cemetery. 

Between July and this month 44 swarms of  Africanised bees have been successfully removed from the cemetery.
During the months of July and August, within which the internal drains were de-silted, 15 swarms were safely contained and placed into hives. During the first half of this month, 17 hives were transported from BLOCK 7 where the Guyana Prison Service is operating, and additional twelve were removed today from BLOCK 1.
The Guyana Apiculturist Society is contracted by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development to remove bees from areas where work is ongoing.  In addition, community workers have detected swarms of bees in Stevedore during the community cleanup exercise and the bee catchers’ team visited the location today to contain and remove the insects.
Each swarm of bees has a queen which lays 2,000 to 3,000 eggs per day. In some cases, there are approximately 60,000 to 80,000 bees in one swarm. Whist the Africanised bees are considered very dangerous to humans and animals, they serve a very important role in our daily existence.
According to Linden Steward, President of the Guyana Apiculture Society, “Bees are responsible for 1/3 of the foods we eat daily since they are very important in the process of pollination”.  Bees pollinate flowers which eventually become the fruit or the vegetable we eat.
Stewart said: “Bees are only hostile and aggressive when they are been disturbed due to loud noise or vibration.”
He added: “Once disturbed they will attack since they are very territorial.”
Even though bees play a very important role in our existence, residents and persons who utilise the internal roads of Le Repentir to access their communities are very happy that the hives have been removed.
According to Stewart: “Once the bees are captured, they are not destroyed; instead, the bees are given to other bee-keepers who will rare them for the production of honey and to aid in the process of pollination.