JAMAICA | PM Holness Sidelined Accompong Chief Currie in meeting with Maroon Leaders on Friday

KINGSTON, January 22, 2022 - Following his exclusion by prime minister Andrew Holness from his meeting with the island’s Maroon leaders on Friday, head of the Accompong Maroons, Colonel Richard Currie has urged “proper dialogue” between the government and maroons to quell growing tensions.

The Office of the Prime Minister confirmed in a release Friday that Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other members of Government met with Colonel Lloyd Latibeaudiere of the Scotts Hall Maroons, Colonel Wallace Sterling of the Moore Town Maroons and Colonel Marcia Douglas of the Charles Town Maroons.

Colonel Richard Currie of the Accompong Maroons whose statements as regards the status of the Maroons in Jamaica, and which drew the ire of Holness, was noticeably absent.  

However, speaking during an Instagram live Friday, Currie claimed that the Government had agreed to meet with maroon colonels only if he was not present, and that his colleagues had reversed their stance from an earlier decision not to meet with members of the Holness administration without him.

“We raised the concerns, we had an open discussion about it and everyone decided it was in the best interest of the collective in maintaining the position of one conversation having to do with the rights of the indigenous people and the maroons,” Currie said. “Having agreed to these terms, within the last 24 hours, much to my disappointment, the decision of the three colonels has changed.”

He said, since Accompong is at the centre of the dispute, it was nonsensical that the Government excluded him from the meeting.

According to the OPM release, “After productive discussions, it was agreed that future meetings will be convened to continue the positive engagement between the Government and the maroons.”

Recently, the Maroons and the Government have been at odds as the Accompong Maroons have reasserted  the age-old claim of sovereignty within the Jamaican state since the election of their new leader, Colonel Richard Currie, in February 2021. 

Currie replaced Colonel Ferron Williams who had been Chief for twelve years (2009-2021). According to some Maroons, Williams was politically compromised as he was a member of the Jamaica Labour party’s powerful Area One Council in western Jamaica.

All his challengers in the February 20231 elections claimed that Williams had gotten too close to the Jamaican Government and had departed from cultural traditions.

 However, a Radio Jamaica report quoted Chief of  the Moore Town Maroons in Portland, Colonel Wallace Sterling as saying that the intention of the meeting was to establish protocols and rules of  engagement for further discussions.

Colonel Sterling added that he believed the tension with Chief Currie would have been a distraction at the meeting, adding that the next round of  talks will be early next month.

“We will be meeting in approximately two more weeks with everyone involved where we can iron out our  differences . We will put our concerns on the table, the government will put their concerns on the table, and most likely we will end up with a working committee to deal with the affairs of the maroons and we can put this thing to rest …..we will be celebrating 60 years of independence and we cannot go into celebrations with this untidy situation,” said Colonel Sterling, who was a guest  on Beyond The Headlines.

Chief  of  the Scotts Hall Maroons in St. Mary, Colonel Lloyd Lattibeaudiere, explained that they met with Holness without Chief Currie as they did not want to miss an opportunity to start dialogue.

“Well I think we did the right thing and he knew this was going to happen. I sent a text to Currie and I told him that I needed to go to the meeting to hear for myself what was taking place. I also wanted to hear what the argument was about and it wouldn’t be good for us to reject the offer from the Prime minister,” Lattibeaudiere said.

However, Currie had a different take on the matter : “It makes no sense having what is being termed an 'icebreaker' meeting that does not involve the voice of the representative of the territory that seems to be causing all the chaos. We need to now tackle the challenges head on and like big people. I again implore the minds and hearts of those that be to let good sense prevail. Please I am asking for proper dialogue,” Currie said.

In his Instagram Live presentation, Currie declared that he is “not here to divide” the country, however, his only duty is to protect the lands that were awarded to his people in 1738 when the maroons and British colonialists signed a peace treaty that ended the maroon wars. 

“We're not here to create problems. The maroons have lived over 300 years in these hills unprovoked, we have not been at war since the signing of that treaty,” Currie said, adding “We maintained a brotherhood, we lived off the land, we continue to live off this land and protect the land.”

He argued that the Cockpit Country has been in the sights of the Government, as it is a viable land for mining.  

“In recent times, we've found ourselves in a conundrum where so many things have been promised to us as a people, including roads and  running water. The Cockpits provides 40 per cent of the island's freshwater [and] we don't have running water. We've had promises that these things would come, and to date, we still struggle as a people,” Currie continued.

“We are not creating a threat to the State; we are not here trying to overthrow anybody. The prime minister has his job and I have mine,” Currie declared.

“The end of it all is that what we've been asking for is a sit-down to have discussions around the rights of the indigenous people of the land, everybody who is here, who is a representation of their heritage,  [and] we still aren't able to have a reasonable diplomatic conversation…there's an element of trust that needs to be preserved. 

So, I come today to let everybody know that my position remains firm in asserting the birthrights of the Cockpit Country Maroons coming via our indigenous rights and our treaty of 1738,” he further stated. 

Adding that his resolve to work with the Government to bring a resolution to the many challenges facing the maroons remains strong, Currie invited the public to visit the community so that they may have a better understanding of the people living there. 

 “I invite everyone, please; I would make myself personally available to you, come to my community, come and look and see what's happening here. Many talk and they've never been here, they don't know what's happening. There has been so much funding that has come into this country on behalf of the indigenous people and none of it gets sent here,” Currie concluded.

The Maroon Colonel is making reference to grants for indigenous peoples from UNESCO and Global Fund money, in the region of  over US$640-thousands  that was given to the Maroons for sustainable development.

According to reports, these donations are managed through the  Ministry of Culture and have been trickling down to the Maroons in the form of a bus and grants to farmers which have to be collected at a designated store in Mandeville.

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