| – miners complain of unfair concession allocation The perception being fuelled by some Government Officials that miners could easily access financing from local banks is being rejected by the Guyana Women Miners’ Organization (GWMO).According to Simona Broomes, President of GWMO during a community meeting at Port Kaituma on Friday last, miners face the same dilemma that others face when approaching local banks for loans.She stressed that the politics should be removed from the banking system since it is not an easy task for small and medium scales miners to access loans.Broomes believes that miners, according to the type of their operations, should be granted duty-free concessions. These duty-free concessions could assist miners to cut production cost, reinvest in their operations and live a reasonably comfortable life.She emphasized that while it is the miner who toils in the ‘gold bush’, enduring the harsh conditions, risking his or her life, persons like the goldsmiths are benefiting from tax exemption. She questioned the logic behind this rationale.“We are working the gold, getting the malaria. We women cannot work without the men. Our men work like McGyver slinging on trucks to go and work in the bush bottom,” Broomes said.According to Broomes, miners deserve better than what Government is offering, especially since billions of dollars is being earned by this industry.During the meeting, miners described what they claim to be unfair allocation of mining concessions to one particular person. They want Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Robert Persaud to revisit this situation.According to a female miner, Stephanie Miguel, she is puzzled as to how GGMC could award one person mining concessions at Big Creek and Five Star. She claims that GGMC wants miners to remove from the area claiming that they belong to an individual.Miguel said that miners from the area should have been the ones with first preference for the mining concessions since mining is the main economic activity in the district.Commenting on another troubling issue, Miguel said that social workers need to have a physical presence in the Baramita area where underage smoking, drinking and sexual exploitation are occurring.The woman related that during a recent visit to the area, she was saddened to see a pre-teen girl in a drunken state. She said that the community is in an immoral state and help is needed to sensitize residents of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, alcohol addiction, legal age of consent and dangers of smoking.Highlighting a new form of exploitation of miners, Broomes said that large companies selling machinery are requesting miners to finance their staff visits in the interior to repair machines even in the warranty period.She related that recently a miner complained that he was forced to pay for the flight and accommodation of a staff of a large retailer of heavy-duty machinery just to repair his damaged machine. The man had no other option but to finance the trip because he needed his equipment repaired. |
