I have been off the airwaves for approximately two months. I spent the entire month of August on vacation in Jamaica and September was spent unravelling from my sojourn to my “born land”.

I have written before that when I go on vacation I only go to one place, Jamaica. I am not interested in North America, Europe, Africa, or even my neighbouring Caribbean islands. I tell my friends I am too old to enjoy travelling to foreign destinations. After all, Jamaica has enough excitement and happenings to keep one fully occupied.

So after an enforced three-year hiatus from my beloved country because of the COVID-19 scourge, I was able to make my first visit. The usual two weeks wouldn’t do. I needed an entire month. Not to mention I had to cater to my teenage, Americanised son, who is intent on being a Jamaican. My trip was well planned. I would go in late July and spend most of August, which meant enjoying the blast of Emancipation and Independence celebrations.

So I fly into Montego Bay, pick up my rented vehicle, and head lickety-split for home. Home means spending a few days at the family home in Bay Pointe at the Montego Freeport and then a couple of days in another family house in Kingston. However, the real home is the family house on the banks of the glorious Rio Cobre. Right there in the Bog Walk Gorge, to be exact. My son looked forward to the river, crocodiles and all. He and his many cousins would swim and fish. He was excited and had purchased a net and other fishing gear.

There were many positive experiences on my trip to Jamaica, but, alas, I have to start with a negative.

After all, I was personally affected.

I exited the highway at Angels and dove into the Bog Walk Gorge. Destination, Kent Village. As I enter the Gorge, a smell assails me. A foul smell of rawness and rotting flesh. My mind tries to assimilate and define the scent. I have smelt that before. My consciousness finally chips in, fish kill.

Fish kill. I am shocked. I immediately look at the water, which is brown and cresting with a white surf, signifying, some say, the presence of caustic soda. Of course, by reflex, the brain races to identify the likely culprit as Alcan Jamaica. This operation now masquerades under new ownership and the name West Indies Aluminum Company (Windalco). Windalco, in turn, is now owned by aluminum multinational United Company (UC) Rusal, a global leader in bauxite-related industries. It has Russian ownership and employs over 100,000 people in many countries.

As I drove towards my house in Kent Village, the rotten smell intensified, almost becoming unbearable. Although well equipped with my COVID-19 mask, the putrid smell still lingered. All along the roadside were dead fish being swept into rubbish bags for disposal by residents. There were so many dead fish that a truck had to be employed to move loads of rotting fish. I looked over at my son, who had tears in his eyes. He knew right then that the river, his precious river, would be out of bounds for some time. His plans to go net fishing and to swim in the river had vanished.

I told him the river would be good to go after one week. He looked at me in disbelief with sad eyes. He knew I was lying. And I was.

Fish kills were mainly a non-event in the early days of the Alcan operations. However, over the last 20-30 years there have been around three or four. It is an unfortunate event, especially regarding the river’s total ecosystem. The caustic soda not only kills all living creatures (fauna), but it also damages river flora and farm crops.

So what is a fish kill? As defined in this context, the phenomenon occurs when chemical effluent, mistakenly or deliberately, is released into conduits leading to nearby rivers and streams. Several potential businesses in the region face random accusations for such actions. For example, a vibrant industrial estate in the Bog Walk area consists of factories that sometimes pollute the Rio Cobre. However, the entity that causes the most damage to the environment and harm to life is that of bauxite operations in Ewarton.

Bauxite operations have several downsides concerning the environment and how it affects life in surrounding communities. First, over an extended period, emissions corrode nearby buildings and, one can assume, also residents’ lungs. In addition, large tracts of previously fertile land get mined out and then put into low-yield farming.

However, these negatives pale compared to the in-your-face immediacy of a fish kill. The effluent discharged from bauxite operations is on a much larger, harmful scale than, for example, the occasional discharge of citrus trash from factories upstream. It also affects a broad cross section of regions, extending to the river’s exit in the sea at Hunts Bay. All communities on the banks of the Rio Cobre are negatively affected. The poisoning of such a significant waterway has also affected regional domestic water supplies.

The Government and its agencies aim to balance the bauxite industry’s economic positives with its deleterious environmental negatives. But do the multinationals care?

Amid the death, destruction, and anguished cries of river-bank residents for justice and recompense, the reflex-driven and reactive Government and its agencies spring into action. Ministers are dispatched to some areas of devastation and make strident calls for penalties to the offending party. The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) trotted out its scientists, and upon completing their analysis, all fingers pointed to Windalco. After all, this was not the first, second, or even the third time.

So it is common knowledge that Windalco is the source of this continuing environmental disaster. If you were to ask the little children in my village who contaminated their playground, they would answer in unison, Windalco. Even the employees of the company know the truth. A friend who wanted to visit me in Kent Village said she was afraid because she was wearing her Windalco shirt. She feared the villagers would beat her because she worked with the company. Of course, I had to reassure her that, in my village, “We run tings.”

But is NEPA effective? This corporate entity faces widespread accusations of collusion with political and commercial interests. They have threatened to revoke Windalco’s $100+ million environment bond, but I won’t hold my breath. When crocodiles showed up in the river, I called NEPA. To my knowledge, they did nothing, and we have learnt to co-exist with the reptiles.

The Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding and the Member of Parliament for the constituency Natalie Neita Garvey visited Kent Village. I stood around listening to the flowery speech of Golding, with most of the terminology and words flying over the heads of the listeners. I think he meant well, but it sounded like pandering to the poor. Neita Garvey was more political with her accusations that class had everything to do with this catastrophe. According to her, it would not have happened in a well-to-do neighbourhood.

Of course, she is right.

So while NEPA huffed and puffed and the politicians jumped on their usual bandwagons, Windalco kept its head down and remained silent. They were already getting a hard time for the mud lakes. Why muddy the water further?

The company is facing legal challenges regarding a previous fish kill in 2019. They seem to consider the situation a nine-day wonder and easily solved. After all, this is a multinational corporation and Jamaica is a back-of-the-woods, Third World country. What is a paltry $100+ million fine to a global company that had first-half international net profits of US$2 billion in 2021; a company that had first-half revenue of US$7+ million in little Jamaica?

This company will continue to display utter contempt for the Jamaican people. Note that this happened on the eve of our 60th Independence celebrations.

Some Independence.

So, after the commotion, everything settled down and no one is aware of the extensive fallout associated with such an event. So let me give you a peek under the covers.

As this nine-day wonder unravels, the financial spoils revert to the politicians. I am not necessarily accusing the MP’s or councillors. However, all are aware of the runnings. Phase one is transitioning the residents from victims and protestors into hustlers. This transition occurs with the disbursement of funds to effect the clean-up of the river. Several people get employment to gather and dispose of the dead fish. One villager told me that he wished there could be a fish kill every week so he could have regular work.

He could see the disgust on my face.

One of the politicians visiting the affected communities was Matthew Samuda, the minister of job creation. I wondered at the time: Why such a minister? Now I know. He was creating jobs. However, this seemingly simple clean-up task has led to disagreements and fights in some communities, resulting in gunplay and arrests.

Phase two is the promise of payments to the residents. I first heard that a sum of $250,000 was to be shared up. Then I heard $500,000, and later $1 million. The last promise I heard was that each affected resident would get a payment of $20,000 every two weeks. Such an arrangement would probably bankrupt UC Rusal. I thought about signing up for some of the money. After all, wasn’t my son inconvenienced by his lack of river time? However, I changed my mind — bad optics.

A friend of mine planned to build a house with his money. I wish him the best as I know the funds due will remain in the courts for years.

However, the real shocker is that approximately 20 per cent of any money infused will wind up in one of Jamaica’s most notorious gang’s coffers. This gang controls the entire length and breadth of the Rio Cobre from Ewarton to where it enters the sea. All recipients of funds will have to pay a kick back to their respective area leader and passed on to the gang’s enforcers. This activity is called poor people extortion 101. But, of course, any financial disagreements are settled by the gun.

Well, this is politics and is bigger than you and me. As old-time people would say, one needs to be careful as, oftentimes, “cock mouth can kill cock”.

Rohan M Budhai is a tax consultant, writer, and history enthusiast. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or mariobudhai@yahoo.com.