Colonel Richard Currie is today (January 6) standing defiant against warnings issued by the Jamaican Government—dismissing any attempts to cancel or discourage participation in the Annual Maroon Fest progressing with zeal in Accompong, St Elizabeth.

Currie, in an Instagram post on Thursday, said that contrary to statements issued by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) that the event will breach provisions of the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), Maroon Fest is their ancestral birthright.

According to the 40-year-old chief, the Accompong Maroons—likened to Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia—must be afforded the same privileges to celebrate their traditional ceremonies without outside interference.

“PUBLIC NOTICE: The Annual Maroon Festival is NOT canceled and will still proceed as planned so Maroons can continue our spiritual and traditional ceremonies as our ancestors did before us (sic),” he began.

“The Maroon Festival should be compared to other religious events such as the pilgrimage to Mecca where Muslims from around the world get a chance to circle the Kabba. This is a religious duty of Maroons to honor our ancestors and to show the way forward for the born and the unborn. This is our way of life! Maroons stand unified on this day! #SoundDiAbeng (sic),” Currie continued on Instagram.

The Accompong colonel’s stance comes just hours after the JCF urged Maroon Fest organisers to scrap the event amid increased spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Jamaica.

The JCF, in its Wednesday statement, declared that neither the St Elizabeth Police nor the Ministry of Health and Wellness granted approval for the event’s staging.

The JCF also urged Jamaicans not the attend the Maroon Fest as the DRMA dictates that public gatherings are limited at this time to 10 people.

The new year continues a frayed relationship between Accompong and the Jamaican State, as both sides challenge their perceived sovereignty.

Back in August 2021, the two groups allegedly knocked heads after Accompong Maroons confronted ‘rogue cops’ who were spotted in the area.

The Maroons claimed they were being targeted in an armed extortion racket and pointed the finger at the Jamaican Government trespassing on their lands.

Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang, in response, commended the actions of the policemen, and counterargued that to his knowledge, there is ‘no such thing as maroon land’.

That, in turn, triggered a scathing broadside from Currie, who declared to the “entire Jamaican public” that he wasn’t “seeking permission to defend” his people.

READ MORE

• Accompong prepares for Maroon Fest 2022, JCF adamant event breaches DRMA
• Armed extortion racket? | Colonel Richard Currie, Maroons raise alarm at ‘rogue JCF trespassers’
• ‘This land is ours’: Accompong’s Colonel Currie rebukes statement by Gov’t minister that ‘Maroon lands don’t exist’