Is Accompong a sovereign state?
MINUTE BY minute, my annoyance grows. Since 1738 until now, we haven’t decide on the sovereignty of Accompong, and the Government of Jamaica (and its agents) have been eerily silent.
They’re looking like a bunch of yellow-bellied cowards, afraid of raising Nanny’s duppy or stirring up Maroon ants’ nest. Make a decision already.
In this ambiguous grey area, in spite of Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) fingerwagging, the Maroons have gone ahead and built their own bank, minted and printed their own money, and some are actively exchanging it with unsuspecting tourists. They’re being egged on by a born-and-raised Canadian who claims Maroon heritage on his maternal side. He has clearly come to take over.
At an exchange rate of J$1,200 to one lumi, which is what obtains currently in Accompong, Maroon money is the strongest currency in the world. Next in line would be the Kuwaiti dinar at J$448:1. The lumi is positioned to be 10 times more powerful than the US dollar, just because the Canadian says so.
As at today, those notes in circulation are backed by nothing but big dreams and pretty promises. The argument set out by their governor, Timothy McPherson, that the lumi was to be backed by the sun was classic cart before the horse. Not one solar panel is currently on the bank. Not one.
More finger-wagging came last week from the BOJ with two print ads forbidding the action of the Bank of Accompong. All bark and no bite.
Perhaps the matter is being skirted because Accompong is home to not one, but two political boxes in the Jamaica elections. No one wants to swing the pendulum lest they swing the vote.
Even among Maroons, it’s undecided whether Accompong is a country, separate and apart from Jamaica. I am yet to hear a convincing argument about autonomy.
But you can’t claim autonomy if: You can’t even tell me the name of your country or find a word for your citizenship.
You aren’t responsible for your own social services (light, roadworks, schools, etc). Jamaican taxes pay for that. You don’t have a national passport. You can’t show me a document that legitimises your sovereignty.
I need not go much further than that. If Accompong is an autonomous state, any of the other Maroon territories sovereign, too? Charles Town and Moore Town in Portland? Scotts Hall in St Mary?
In the same way I respect and appreciate Rastafarian customs, Accompong, and all the other Maroon communities, though home to indigenous people, are not separate countries. Dem can enter Olympics without us? Dem can go World Cup?
IMBALANCE OF POWER
Nationality aside, there’s another matter that concerns me.
I spent last Friday high in the hills of St Elizabeth in Maroon territory. I had gone investigating this Bank of Accompong business, but that’s another story for another day.
I got an insider’s look at the workings of Maroon governance. Now, I’m no descendant of Nanny, and I know ‘cockroach nuh business inna fowl fight’, but I have to weigh in on what I think is a gross imbalance of power and a wide opening for exploitation and abuse.
Head honcho in Accompong is the colonel. He’s voted in by the community. (Incidentally, an election presided over by the Electoral Office of Jamaica.)
His term is fixed for five years. And once the candidate is chosen, all bucks stop with him.
He then selects a 15-member council with administrative and ministerial responsibilities.
These ministers also form the bedrock of the Maroon justice system. They try all cases there, except murder. The judge is – surprise, surprise – the colonel, and the jury, his very same hand-selected inner circle of 15. He can fire them at will.
Not only should the matter of sovereignty be settled, but it’s high time Maroons look within at their own governance structure. It’s the closest remnant we have to slavery. Colonel is Backra and all his subjects must comply.