Currie invokes right to defend Maroon territory against state agencies
Published:Tuesday | July 30, 2024 | 12:09 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Chief Richard Currie, the leader of the Accompong Maroons, is blaming the current tension in Quickstep, the Maroon community along the Trelawny-St Elizabeth border, on what he claimed was the Government’s bid to illicitly exploit and siphon off resources.
According to Currie, those resources rightfully belong to the Maroons.
Currie, who got drawn into last weekend’s stand-off between residents of Quickstep, workers of the Forestry Department and the police – after representatives of the Forestry Department were prevented from leaving the community with mahogany lumber they had confiscated – said the Maroons have a right to defend their territory.
During last week’s incident, the Forestry Department workers were reportedly blocked from leaving the community by residents of Quickstep. It took the intervention of the police to get them out of the area the following day.
After the Forestry Department workers were able to leave, a 48-hour curfew was instituted in Quickstep to allow them to return and complete their mission.
When a strong contingent of police re-entered the community yesterday (Monday) morning, Currie was left displeased with their actions, which he declared hostile.
“I have assiduously been working since morning to prevent any escalation of tension ... .It has not made it any easier to try and quell the temperature of the people when they see such an aggressive show of force in a Maroon community, particularly Quickstep,” Currie said in an Instagram post.
Currie, whose relationship with the Government has been acrimonious at best, took issue with the claim that Quickstep is a government-owned property.
“This is the heart of Cockpit Country. Tell me where in the Cockpit Country the Government of Jamaica owns land, explain that to me,” said Currie, who claimed the actual name of the community is Quickstep of Accompong and that it is part of the overall Maroon enclave known as the Land of Look Behind.
Currie believes the Government’s claim to Quickstep is a way of getting its hands on the district’s resources, especially its lumber.
“The Government is challenging for the ownership of Quickstep because of the rich supply of lumber that sits in the heart of Cockpit Country,” said Currie. “The point is the Maroons are within their right to defend their territory ... to defend their forest. Chief Currie is not a lumberer, Chief Currie is a defender of the earth, defender of the faith, defender of the culture, that is all I have been doing since coming here. All I have been asking for is dialogue to resolve longstanding issues, particularly the one with Quickstep and the illicit lumbering in Quick Step.”
Currie is also raising concern over the constitutional reform agenda being pursued by the Government that could impact the rights of the Maroons and other indigenous groups.
“What does it mean to the Maroon’s ownership of lands, the indigenous people’s ownership of land and the rights that extend from the ownership of such lands,” asked Currie.
On Sunday, the Forestry Department accused the Maroons of spreading a “misleading and false narrative” in relation to the incident in which it said its workers were impeded by residents as they sought to seize lumber that was alleged to have been harvested illegally near Quickstep.
In a media release, the department said it disrupted the illegal logging operation in the Cockpit Country Protected Area on Friday.
The department said that, on Friday, forest rangers identified an extensive illegal timber harvesting operation in the area and dispatched a team to seize the timber.
The department said it was reported that approximately 7 a.m. a truck loaded with lumber was seen leaving the area before the team’s arrival.
It said more than 500 pieces of lumber were located at multiple points along trails within the reserve.