CURRIE FAVOUR

At least two Maroon chiefs have described Accompong Chief Richard Currie’s attendance at the People’s National Party (PNP) 86th annual conference on Sunday as a direct response to the Government’s persistent neglect of Maroon community concerns.

In a brief but passionate speech, Currie, leader of the Accompong Town enclave in St Elizabeth, declared that his people would no longer tolerate violations of their rights.

The Government and the Accompong Maroons have been at odds over prospective mining and other issues, triggering a Supreme Court case concerning land ownership in the Cockpit Country, where Accompong and other settlements are situated. This dispute has led to public clashes between Currie and Prime Minister Andrew Holness and resulted in Currie’s exclusion from a meeting government officials held with Maroon chiefs two years ago amid rising tensions.

Additionally, Currie and other Maroon leaders have expressed concerns about the lack of consultation with indigenous peoples during the constitutional reform process.

“We have been soliciting a Government for three and a half years, and today they have not responded to us. Today they have not attended one function,” Currie said at the conference to rousing applause.

He noted that the Opposition Leader Mark Golding had shown a more positive attitude, and emphasised that the Maroons’ presence at the political conference was a statement of unity and a “gesture towards future mutual respect and peace with Accompong Maroons and all Maroons islandwide”.

Lloyd Latibeaudiere, chief of the Scotts Hall Maroons in St Mary, fully supports Currie’s stance.

“We only have two choices in Jamaica, either JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) or the PNP, and I do think if one party is unwilling to work with us, try another one,” Latibeaudiere told The Gleaner.

He added that there has been no further communication from the Government since their initial meeting in January 2022, which was meant to address issues of land ownership and sovereignty, despite ongoing efforts from various Maroon groups to establish contact.

“We had one meeting with the prime minister and there was supposed to be a second meeting in two weeks, and it’s been over two years,” he said.

“I don’t think Maroons have a right to take a side as far as politics goes because we have to work with any Government that comes about, but I am saying the present one is not working with us,” he added.

While unsure if the Maroon chief’s presence will have an impact on how people vote in the looming parliamentary elections, Latibeaudiere believes it should serve as a “wake-up call” for the current administration to re-engage with the Maroons.

“We are desperately in need of a conversation, and to me, the only other choice that he (Currie) has is turning to the PNP ... and hoping that it’ll give them a boost,” he said.

While also voicing his frustration over the stalled talks between the Maroons and the Government, chief of the Moore Town Maroons in Portland, Colonel Wallace Sterling, noted that Currie, as a private citizen, has the right to attend any political conferences of his choosing.

However, Sterling is concerned that Currie did not seek consensus from other Maroon leaders before he went proclaiming to represent their  issues.

“I don’t think it is necessarily the best place to air your grouses and to talk about these kinds of things. We can sit down with the Government. I know it’s taking a little while, but we can sit down with the Government and whatsoever grouse we have, we can deal with them at that level,” Sterling said.

Despite this, Sterling noted that it is not uncommon for Maroon leaders to engage in Jamaica’s political process. He cited former Moore Town Maroon Chief Colin Lloyd George Harris, who served as a JLP senator in the 1960s, and Joseph Harris, who was secretary of the Moore Town Maroons and served as a JLP councillor in the 1950s.

Sterling emphasised that while Maroon leaders have the freedom to align with political parties, caution is necessary.

“Any political party that forms the Government of Jamaica, the Maroons have to interface with them. There is no getting around that,” he stated.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com