Residents end eight days of protest after ministers visit area
Residents of the “Mines” area, Region 10, are accusing the regional authorities of turning their backs on them.
Thursday , after eight days of protest over the poor state of the roads in that bauxite mining community, two ministers went down to the area to determine what went wrong and how it could be fixed. The protests are over, but the residents’ anger of being ignored has remained. The trouble started on Monday, January 9, when eight Number 43 minibuses that ply the four communities in the mines area decided not to work, and to protest the conditions of the roadway. The roads lead from the Linden municipality proper to Old England, Nottinghamshire, Coomacka and Three Friends/ Maria Elizabeth – home to about 1,900 persons. Some of them work in the bauxite mines. Residents told the media that last week, after launching a picketing exercise, they decided to visit the offices of Regional Chairman, Renis Morian, but did not get any real commitment. Since January 9, very few children were going to school as the buses were not working and teachers too were forced to stay away. A number of regional officials, after days without comment, drove past the protesting residents and were still not inclined to speak. A few angry protestors threw some logs across the road.
One resident remarked, “It is more than eye-pass. About seven months ago, President David Granger presented a bus to move children around. It worked for one day, and only on another private road, and then we saw it no more. On Tuesday, we saw it again. They apparently knew that a ministerial team was coming up.” At the Dorabisi junction, where the Linden municipality ends, residents said they were met by Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, who expressed regret that the situation was allowed to reach this far. “She told us that emergency works will start very soon and we have agreed to end the bus strike and return the situation to normalcy,” a spokesperson for the protestors said.
(Kaieteurnews.com)