Guyana Anti Corruption Network

URGENT APPEAL: The Bridge is Gone. Our Village is Trapped.

To the Guyana Anti-Corruption Network,

My name is ———, and I am a resident of Awarewaunau, a Wapichan community in the Deep South of Region Nine. I am writing to you with desperation because no one else will listen. Today, our bridge collapsed.

I am sending you the video so you can see for yourselves. A large truck, one of those working for the mining companies at Marudi Mountain, was crossing when the whole structure just gave way. The truck is now half-sunk in the creek, and our bridge—our only reliable crossing during the rains—is destroyed.

But please understand: this was not an accident. It was a disaster years in the making, and it has happened because the people meant to protect us have abandoned their duty.

You have reported on the corruption for so long. You know how it works here. The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) —the very body that is supposed to supervise our infrastructure—has been approving bridges and roads in this region for years that are built to fail. The engineers sign off on contracts. They pass inspections. But they do not come to Awarewaunau to see with their own eyes. They do not test whether a bridge built with cheap materials can withstand the heavy trucks that now constantly cross our lands. This bridge is river sand, cement and steel you use on house.

Those trucks belong to the mining companies. They come from Marudi, carrying ore and supplies, day after day. They grind down our roads. We can barely breathe with the dust they create.

We are a Wapichan community. We have lived on these lands long before the mining companies came, long before the RDC existed. But we are treated as invisible. The government in Georgetown forgets us. The regional officials ignore us. And now, when our lifeline collapses, there is no one to call.

We need you to help us. We need you to ask the questions that no one else will ask:

· Who approved this bridge? When was it last inspected?
· What materials were used? Investigate the contractor and the price.
· Why are mining trucks of this weight allowed on infrastructure never designed for them?
· Who will be held accountable for leaving our community without this bridge? How long will it take?

The video shows the wreckage. But it cannot show our fear—the fear of a community left to fend for itself.

Please, use your voice. Investigate this. Make them see us. Make them answer for what they have done to us AGAIN!

A resident of Awarewaunau