Dispute continues ... fight for leadership

­ C.G. Accompong Maroon Colonel Sidney Peddie (right) sits on the platform with historian and member of Accompong Maroon Executive Council, Melville Currie (left) and Sydney Bartley, director of culture, Ministry of Education, Culture and Youth.

LEADER OF the Accompong Maroons Colonel Sydney Peddie has refuted claims made by former colonel Meredie Rowe that he had leased or sold Maroon heritage lands to non-Maroons without consulting with his people.

The latest accusations by Mr. Rowe concerns lands on which two mobile phone service providers have erected cell sites, which Colonel Peddie said, had been done with the people's
consent.

The allegations are not true," Colonel Peddie told Hospitality Jamaica. "These accusations are being bandied about by the opponent that I have beaten twice in the elections, Mr. Meredie Rowe, and a few of his relatives who are backing him."

A feud between the former leader and the current head has been ongoing for the last seven years. "He (Rowe) doesn't have a strong base here, he is just jealous of my position, and because of that he comes up with false accusations at times," said Colonel Peddie.

ORDER OF DISTINCTION

Colonel Peddie said if the accusations were true, he wouldn't have beaten Rowe in two previous elections. "If the people had taken him seriously, they would not have re-elected me. Because of my work, I have gotten an Order of Distinction because of my involvement with community development."

Rowe has gone as far as to get the representatives of the two mobile companies to disclose how much money was handed over to the Colonel for the setting up of the cell site.

Rowe had also charged that the current Accompong Council was violating and devaluing aspects of the 1738 Treaty and Maroon sovereignty and was destroying their "tradition, custom, and way of life," and that the Maroons "got a raw deal" in the negotiations with the cellphone companies.

"We are suspicious that our land tenureship is at stake, as a result. This is due to ignorance on some part, and to a lesser extent greed."

He said he was planning to form a political party, not to challenge for leadership, but to challenge in a unified way the suspected irregularities which are not in the best interest of the Maroons; to be a viable watchdog to ensure that our ancestors legacy via the treaty is protected, is guarded, not tampered with, not destroyed. We will stop at nothing to get a hearing," he said.

"The sum they (mobile phone companies have given to the Maroon Council is below the market value or the true value comparable to lands in other areas of Jamaica. Secondly, we don't know if the land was leased, rent or sold, because the present Colonel is deviating. He (Colonel Peddie) and two others like three blind mice are going out making agreements and don't get the community involved.

They can't move a motion much less prepare a resolution. I am not malicious. I am not being political, because he (Peddie) is my aunt's son.