Page 7 - The Maroons

Maroons: Queen must pay

Say monarch has breached 1738 peace treaty; demand end to bauxite
mining in Cockpit Country

BY SHARLENE HENDRICKS
Observer staff reporter
hendrickss@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 77 Comments

Chief Semako I, the finance minister of the Accomong Maroons, addressing a crowd at
National Heroes' Circle in Kingston yesterday before they marched to Gordon House in
protest against bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

The Maroon community in Jamaica has sent official correspondence to Her Majesty The
Queen, claiming that the issuing of bauxite mining leases in the Cockpit Country is tantamount
to her breaching the peace treaty signed with their ancestors, the Leeward Maroons, in 1738.

As such, the Maroons are demanding that in order to remedy the breach and restore the peace, all
bauxite mining activity in the Cockpit Country and its surrounding protected areas must cease and
The Queen should pay “an environmental fine in the amount of Accompong Lumi 262 million, which is
to be deposited with the chief receiver at the Central Solar Reserve Bank of Accompong with the
instruction of allocation for the reduction of carbon emissions via the development of solar energy
infrastructure”.

Yesterday, Chief Semako I, who identified himself as the minister of finance for the Accompong
Maroons in Jamaica, and whose given name is Timothy McPherson, told the Jamaica Observer that