Bounty Killer lands meeting with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and will be touring the Cockpit Country this week.
The recent rumblings by Bounty Killer objecting to the mining of bauxite in the Cockpit Country In Trelawny has not escaped the ears of the Andrew Holness-led Government, who have now rushed to allay the entertainer’s fears. Government Senator Matthew Samuda sat down for an interview on the Chopping Block show dubbed All Things Cockpit Country, hosted by blogger Choppajohn West, on Saturday Night. Samuda says that the Poor People Governor, who had been strident in his demands for the government to leave the Cockpit Country alone, had been approached to do a tour of the Cockpit Country this Thursday.
The Senator said that Bounty, whose real name is Rodney Pryce, has also been invited to the Office of the Prime Minister at Jamaica House in Kingston. The dancehall star will be given a first-hand presentation of “what the real situation is,” concerning the Cockpit Country Protected Area, which he says, is not being mined.
“I have invited a friend of mine who is a vocal critic of what is taking place in what he thinks is Cockpit Country, to tour the area with me on Thursday, as well as to stop with me at Jamaica House and see exactly what is what. That friend of mine is Rodney Pryce. Myself and Rodney Pryce, aka Bounty Killer will tour the Cockpit Country on Thursday of this week,” the Senator said.
According to Samuda, areas on the fringes of the protected area were signed off by the former PJ Patterson-led Government in 2004, and not by the Andrew Holness regime, a point he wishes to get across to the Killer.
“Let’s be fair to Rodney. Rodney has never settled for Government performance regardless of who is in government. And that is what we want because citizens must hold their government accountable. He himself will be shown that the Cockpit County is not being mined and the area which was being mined was signed off in 2004 by Phillip Paulwell,” he said.
Samuda said he was happy to see that other Reggae/Dancehall other artistes such as Queen Ifrica and Spragga Benz had established themselves as environmentalists, by being very vocal about the Cockpit. He recommended that they now turn their attention to roughhousing former Mining Minister Phillip Paulwell whom he said, was the main person responsible for allowing bauxite miners to encroach into the Cockpit.
“A Phillip Paulwell sign di licence an sell out di hillside, so Spragga Benz and Queen Ifrica need fi go protest a Phillip Paulwell yard. They should take the protest to Phillip Paulwell house. The Prime Minister is the only man that every try protect the Cockpit Country. A Phillip Paulwell did a sell out di area in question,” he said.
“By the way, everybody weh vocal pon di issue, we need fi encourage because these are the citizens weh gwine hold every Government from now on to account so it is not a bad ting,” he added.
The invitation to meet at Jamaica House and the subsequent Cockpit Country tour comes on the heels of a pronouncement made by the veteran deejay on Instagram, in which he condemned the government’s supposed plans to allow bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country.
In that post, the Killer has unleashed his full wrath on the Andrew Holness administration declaring that if the government sells out the Cockpit Country it “shall never win again in Jamaica” and urged Jamaicans to take a stand.
