Akawini wants Barama back, company says no chance
Kaieteur News, 13 June 2007
After sending Barama Company Limited packing from their community in
dramatic fashion, the Captain and villagers of Akawini, an Amerindian
community in Region One, have indicated that they now want the logging
company to establish a direct arrangement with the village.
But it appears that the request is too late
Speaking with Kaieteur News from Miami , Chairman of Barama, Girwar
Lalaram, said that the Captain is now claiming that the village was
misled by the Amerindian Peoples' Association (APA) and now wants the
company to make alternative arrangement.
However, Lalaram pointed out that his company has already begun to
demobilise its equipment and is counting its losses.
He emphasised that in no way will he consider continuing the operations
in Akawini after the way his company was treated by the community.
Lalaram noted that the only regret he has is that the residents of St.
Monica, a nearby community, will suffer as a result of the actions of
the Akawini residents.
“We are pulling out and not looking back. We have invested some US
$500,000 in roads and infrastructural works in that area. So far we
have already completed some 20 km of road at the cost of US $8,000 per
km,” Lalaram stated.
He noted that Barama will never enter into any sub-contract with any
company that has an arrangement with Amerindian concessions in Guyana .
“I can say that within our concessions there are a few Amerindian
communities. We will certainly be working with these communities to
enhance them. But I can say that the company will not go to any other
Amerindian areas, out of our concession, to do any logging,” the Barama
Chairman stressed.
Early last week, Lalaram 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 Woods
Product Incorporated (IWPI).
He added that this was the very proposal he put forward to the
community when he visited about two weeks ago and they rejected it.
“I think that they now realise that after we move out they will not be
getting the four or five million dollars that the company pays them
every month. We are moving out and there is no uncertainty about that.
We will not be looking back,” Lalaram stated.
He said that the company had purchased chainsaws for villagers as means
of making their lives easier but their recent actions were very
worrisome.
“We had preferred to have a peaceful settlement but unfortunately that
did not happen,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Barama was forced to withdraw its operations from
Akawini after the residents told the management of the company that the
village does not wish to have the company there.
That position was stated during an official meeting with the community.
And during the meeting, intense lobbying was carried out for the
logging entity's removal from the area.
Barama came under fire after residents of Akawini accused the company
of logging illegally on their concession.
The Amerindian community had signed a contract with IWPI allowing
Barama to log in the area.
According to Village Captain, David Wilson, Barama began logging in
Akawini in February 2006, supposedly on a sub-contract the company
signed with IWPI.
The Village Council is claiming that it never saw the supposed
contract. As such the village was forced to terminate its contract with
IWPI, thus effectively forcing the Barama operation out.
The issue came to the international arena in May when a lawyer from the
Amerindian Peoples' Association, and Village Captain Wilson attended a
meeting in Zurich , Switzerland .
According to reports, the two informed officials of Credit Suisse and
Samling that Barama, through its purported subcontract with IWPI, was
logging the last remaining forest of the Akawini village and in so
doing, threatened the livelihood and violated the rights of the
indigenous people living in the area.
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