Guinea Grass Village Council writes to PM – “ Lift the lockdown”

Via Phone: Benito Uck

Two protests were held in Guinea Grass Village last week. The northern community is under lockdown until the first week of September but villagers complain that they have been suffering without food and access to their money. There are over three thousand residents in that village – and today Chairman Benito Uck wrote a letter to appeal to the Prime Minister to lift the lockdown. He contends that his village has fewer cases that several other communities that have not been placed under lockdown. He also points out that the distribution of assistance in the village is not equitable.

Via Phone: Benito Uck, Chairman, Guinea Grass

“I wrote the letter because as a Guinea Grasseño we are concerned. All the community of Guinea Grass are concerned about this lock down that was extended for 14 days. Like I said previous to other reporters we had an issue with the food assistance, we are getting but slowly, not everybody had gotten. Finance, people cannot go to Orange Walk, Friday we managed to see how people could go to withdraw some money at the ATM and other issues that are affecting our community. People want the government to uplift the lockdown since the other communities in our district are having bigger amounts of cases than our village. Our village up to now is only 10 cases, there are other villages with 15, 12 and what is what we are asking to see how the government could lift the lockdown so that people could go and earn their living. They need to work, they don’t want to depend on government to feed them.”

In a press release issued late this evening, the National Association of Village Councils gives its support to the Guinea Grass Village Council.  NAVCO says that while they recognize the need for strict containment measures, the lockdown has exacerbated the plight of the villagers to access food, medication and other essentials. The release goes on to say “We call on the relevant authorities to do all in its power to ensure that the voices and concerns of the people of Guinea Grass are not only heard , but are addressed urgently and meaningfully.”  It ends by saying that NAVCO also makes this call on behalf of the other two communities under lockdown.