GUINEA GRASS, Orange Walk District, Mon. Aug. 24, 2020– Guinea Grass is one of three villages that were placed under complete lockdown by the Ministry of Health in an effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus from that village.
The village was put under lockdown on August 6 because of the discovery of a cluster of COVID-19 cases — believed to be the result of border-jumping activities by Guinea Grass residents— in the village. Steps were then taken to isolate the village to try to stop the spread of the virus.
This morning, some residents of the village, along with members of the Guinea Grass village council, staged a protest on the road in front of the police roadblock, voicing their discontent with the lockdown, and demanding assistance from the Government, and for the lockdown to be lifted, because the villagers cannot access the funds required to buy much-needed items.
There are villagers who need to go to ATMs to get money and to go to supermarkets to buy items not sold in the village.
The assistance being given to the villagers by the government is insufficient, said a village official.
In speaking to the media, the village chairman said that the people are suffering. Many children are eating once per day, he said. They are in need and they want a solution to the problem; they want to be heard, or they will return to protest again, he remarked.
A villager said that the Government should have given them at least two days’ notice so that they could have sorted out financial matters with the banks and credit unions, and could have collected their salaries.
Because of the pressing need for funds, two Guinea Grass residents escaped from the village and went to their employers to collect their salaries, but the employers called police, and the workers have been charged and are now in jail.
The villagers don’t want this approach. They want things to be done peacefully, and are calling on the Government to listen to them. They are asking for more help, since they have been under lockdown almost 3 weeks now.
The Chairman said that among other problems in the village, there are diabetics who need pills, and there are those with medical appointments.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow told the nation that they are looking at the situation in Guinea Grass and trying to determine what to do.