Akawini moving on to its own sustainable forestry operation
Kaieteur News, 16 June 2007
Akawini's Village Toshao David Wilson and attorney-at-law David James,
of the Amerindian People's Association (APA), yesterday told media
operatives that the Akawini Village Council was categorical in its
denial of the allegation by Chairman of Barama Company Ltd, Girwar
Lalaram, that Akawini wants the Barama Company back in the village.
The comment came when Akawini and the APA hosted a press conference at
the Raddison Suites in Queenstown, Georgetown, to clarify their
position in relation to Barama.
James added that rather than the Council asking to have Barama back
after it has destroyed many of the prime species, the Council has in
fact started an initiative to start its own sustainable forestry
operation.
A delegation from the Council has already sought information from the
relevant stakeholders on the specifications of the logs to be
harvested, and will start on a small scale to retail locally.
Chairman of Barama, Girwar Lalaram, had told Kaieteur News that the
Captain and villagers of Akawini had indicated that they want the
logging company to establish a direct arrangement with the village.
Wilson retaliated, “I have not visited, nor has the Village Council
visited, the office of Mr. Lalaram during last week to negotiate any
direct agreement with Barama. In fact, no one from the Council has
visited the Barama office in months.”
“It appears that Barama has resorted to lies and fabrication to save
face,” Wilson said.
James also told the media that Wilson (Akawini Toshao) and the Village
Council are contending that the decision to have Barama vacate -- which
was made at the meeting with Barama in Akawini on May 29 -- is final.
“The Council is asking that the company leave peacefully and to desist
from carrying out the threats to destroy the roads in the village,”
said James
The Council, according to James, is discussing with a law firm
possibilities of legal action, given that the Ministry of Amerindian
Affairs has not offered any help.
Lalaram had said that the Captain and other persons visited his office
lobbying for a direct arrangement with the company rather than the
sub-contract that Barama had with Interior Wood Products Incorporated
(IWPI).
This statement was also refuted by Wilson, who indicated that apart
from the monies owed by Barama, IWPI owes the Village Council an
estimated $10 million.
He noted that the sum accumulated from outdated cheques that were
returned to the company for updating but were never reissued to the
Council.
The Council is also asking that Barama pay all outstanding money to
Akawini workers who worked with them for months without being paid.
In response to the statement by Lalaram that IWPI cut only 99 per cent
of the peeler logs, the delegation provided media operatives with a
copy of a document purportedly from the ‘Camp In-charge, Pomeroon' to
Emery Song, documenting the logs harvested for April 2007.
According to the document, IWPI, on behalf of Barama, logged Baromalli
(sanctioned for logging), Bulletwood, Crabwood, Kabukalli, Locust and
Purpleheart among others, all of which were not sanctioned for logging
by the company.
The delegation also highlighted what it called a breach of contract in
only hiring a maximum of 16 workers, whereas the agreement was for at
least 80.
The delegation also provided a copy of a pay slip dated October 2006 in
the name of one Frederick France of the IWPI /Pomeroon department, for
a net pay of $21,000, which is below the minimum wage of Guyana.
The delegation also raised another issue, saying that the works
conducted by Barama have interfered with their livelihood, wherein the
streams are now either blocked or polluted.
They added that income has also been lost given that a number of the
non-timber resources in the forest have been lost, such as Mucru, which
is traditionally used for fashioning nibbi furniture.
“At the rate Barama was harvesting, the people of the village now feel
a sense of security now that Barama is gone…If Barama had stayed for
three more months, the likelihood for a sustainable harvesting
operation would not have been there…Based on records, what they
(Barama) harvested in one month we could have taken 13 years,” said
Wilson.
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