‘We don’t want them here’ - Pusey Hill resident ready to face down mining giant

PUSEY HILL, Manchester:

When excavators roll in to tap the red gold in the bauxite-rich soils of Pusey Hill, Conroy Harriott will likely reprise the defiance of that lone protester against a military tank in Tiananmen Square more than three decades ago.

Harriott, a resident of Pusey Hill in south Manchester, owns more than 18 acres of farmland. He has vowed to mount a demonstration to prevent miners from causing damage to the environment in his rural district.

He has noticed assessors putting “a few things stick in the earth and they say is bauxite testing”. Immediately, alarm bells went off and so did his rage.

“If they think they can come over here ... I have been paying taxes for this for over 30 years. No bauxite not coming here to run me away or mess up this plan,” Harriott said.

The 66-year-old martial arts teacher told The Gleaner of plans to build a health and wellness centre in the community. Mining, he said, would not only thwart those plans but defeat the philosophy and purpose of health promotion.

Dust nuisance and health complications are among the spin-off problems he expects mining to bring to Pusey Hill.

“If they are coming, I am going to organise a protest ... . We don’t want them here,” he said.

Jamalco officials confirmed that mining is slated to begin in Pusey Hill but said that they were unable to give a timeline for commencement.

Harriott believes that the environment is given short shrift by regulatory watchdogs like the National Environment and Planning Agency, which grants licences for bauxite hauling and mining.

“... We have the land, but we don’t dictate to whoever come in as to what we want. We make people come into this country and dictate to us,” Harriott fumed.

Among his concerns is the inconvenience caused to commuters who use major roadways that become engulfed in haulage routes. Nothing peeves him more than chugging behind haulage trucks with flag men giving him life lessons in patience amid delays.

Openly expressing his disapproval of advocacy from political representatives, Harriott believes that Jamaican administrations have been accepting the bare minimum from investors. He has respect only for late former Prime Minister Michael Manley, under whose leadership the bauxite levy took effect in the mid-1970s.

“The people, they are cowards. Seventy per cent of Jamaican people suffer from inferiority complex; they don’t stand up and talk to power,” a livid Harriott said.

Donna Marie Brooks, corporate services manager at Jamalco, which is based in Clarendon, said that she was unaware of the company’s plan being viewed with hostility in communities.

Brooks said that residents were sometimes ambivalent about mining but noted that the company was focused on having a positive impact on as many persons as it could.

“It all depends on how you are impacting the person at a particular time ... . You won’t be able to please everyone,” said the corporate services manager.

“You have thousands of persons living in a community. You won’t be able to reach everyone,” she added.

– Tamara Bailey