A member of the Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica is calling for cops to stop destroying cannabis plants in the current economic climate, after armed men believed to be members of the police force were accused of chopping down crops, including cannabis plants, in Bethsalem, St Elizabeth, on Tuesday.

Paul Burke condemned the act, pointing out that since Bethsalem is part of the sovereign Maroon territory of Accompong and a special agreement with Government allows for the cultivation of cannabis in the space, farmers ought to be left alone.

“The houses of Accompong goes further than the actual town. Separate and apart from that, the police have better things to do with their lives in this country other than to chop down ganja there.

“Certainly, as part of the Maroon settlement, I can’t say they have any authority to chop down ganja, and secondly, they know as well as we know that ganja is part of the livelihood of many Jamaicans, particularly in this difficult COVID-19 period. I am totally opposed to the chopping down of ganja,” Burke told the Jamaica Observer yesterday..

Chief of the Accompong Maroons Colonel Richard Currie, in sharing a video on Twitter on Tuesday, tweeted that there had been armed trespass in Maroon territory.

“Men dressed in plain clothes pointing high-powered rifles at Maroon farmers are said to be rouge (sic) members of the @JamaicaConstab. Maroons came out victorious,” the tweet read.

Currie provided an update in another tweet yesterday, accompanied by a video of a group of Accompong Maroons, being led by Currie, chasing away unidentified men. Currie repeatedly instructed one of the men to lower his weapon and leave.

“The Sovereign State of Cockpit Country has verified with numerous divisions of the @JamaicaConstab that this operation was conducted outside of any superiors direct knowledge. Police officers are extorting Maroon farmers for money or taking their crops. #SoundDiAbeng,” yesterday’s tweet read.

The Jamaica Observer contacted Superintendent Narda Simms who is in charge of St Elizabeth for a comment on the issue but she declined the request.

In a statement yesterday, Colonel Currie demanded an explanation from the Government of Jamaica for the invasion that unfolded around noon on Tuesday.

In the statement, which Currie said was a note of concern issued to the Government, he said: “The Bethsalem district is one of several satellite districts that are directly connected to Accompong, which is the capital and the seat of the Cockpit Country indigenous government. The people of Bethsalem are Maroons, descendants of the island’s first people who had resisted colonisation and voters in Maroon elections held every five years in Accompong. The community of Bethsalem is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the indigenous Maroon government, being a community of Maroons within the Cockpit Country and under the duly elected chief, Richard Currie Administration.”

Currie said an explanation from the Government is vital in maintaining investor and business confidence.

“The government of the Cockpit Country will have further comment on this matter as the facts become clear. The ability to operate with confidence in our own indigenous territory without fear and threat of harm to our people and their livelihoods is critical in our bid to improve our condition as indigenous people and to restoring our dignity as a people,” he said in the statement.