HGP Nightly News – In a confrontation that has laid bare what the opposition is calling a brazen attempt to silence elected representatives, APNU Parliamentary leader and MP Dr. Terrence Campbell and a delegation of fellow parliamentarians were physically prevented from entering the Marudi settlement, Region 9 on Wednesday morning, stopped at locked gates, allegedly by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
Dr. Campbell and his colleagues, MPs Sherod Duncan, Saiku Andrews and Sharma Solomon, had arrived at the entrance to Marudi as part of a nationwide series of street parliaments designed to engage directly with constituents on the ground. Having already held sessions in Linden, Georgetown and other areas, the delegation had come to hear the concerns of the farmers and miners who call Marudi home, communities grappling with a punishing cost of living that, Campbell noted, sees even a can of mineral water fetching $500. What they encountered instead was a locked gate and a bureaucratic wall.
Campbell claims that Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Mr. Newell Dennison, informed him that permission was required to enter, a claim the MP rejected with barely concealed outrage. In nearly six months of travelling the length and breadth of Guyana since taking his seat in parliament, Campbell said, he had never once been asked for permission to visit constituents, not even in Mahdia, another active mining area in Region Eight that the delegation had visited just days before. “There is absolutely no law that allows the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to prevent a member of parliament from going to engage with his or her constituents,” he said flatly. “This confounded nonsense must stop.”
What makes the situation all the more explosive is what Campbell says he uncovered while standing at those locked gates. According to information received by the delegation on the ground, the mining rights at Marudi mountain have been taken up by two Guyanese, who have in turn invited Brazilian nationals into the area, including individuals Campbell alleged are wanted by the Brazilian government. The MP pointed directly to a Brazilian vehicle visible at the scene, noting that its occupant appeared to make every effort to avoid being filmed. Even more alarming, Campbell said the delegation was told that surveillance cameras at the site had detected their arrival, and that instructions were passed to ensure they were not permitted to enter.
When Campbell pressed Dennison directly on the phone, demanding to know who had the authority to open the barricades, the Commissioner refused to name anyone, declining to identify whether the Permanent Secretary or the minister could grant clearance. Campbell was unequivocal: he would not be calling any minister for permission to visit his own constituents. The authority the Mines Commission holds over these roads, he argued, exists solely to prevent illegal mining, environmental harm or access during road repairs, none of which applied to a parliamentary delegation conducting community outreach. That the gates remain locked to elected MPs while foreign nationals move freely through them, he said, is not just an embarrassment. It is an indictment.
