Trapped, Unpaid, and One Dead: Guyana’s Test of Accountability

BY: Hem Kumar                               

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣

One man is dead. Thirty-seven others say they are trapped—without pay, without passports, and without a way out.

If the accounts emerging from a mining operation run by Ekaa Hrim Earth Resources Management are substantiated, then Guyana is not dealing with a labour dispute. It is confronting allegations consistent with forced labour and human trafficking—unfolding in real time, under the watch of the State.

The men, speaking on camera, allege that they have been denied adequate food and water, gone unpaid for months, and had their passports confiscated. Several report being told they must pay US$5,000 to secure their release. Some further allege that threats were made against them, including by individuals they identified as members of the Guyana Police Force.

One of those men, Mr. Shekhar Chatri (also reported as Chetri), is now dead.

At this stage, the question is no longer what the workers are saying. The question is what the Government of Guyana is doing.
Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton cannot afford silence or delay. The allegations, as described, align directly with indicators of trafficking under the Trafficking in Persons Act No. 2 of 2005. This demands immediate intervention—on-site inspection, worker protection, and enforcement action where warranted.

Minister of Home Affairs Onedige Waldron, under whose portfolio the Trafficking in Persons Unit operates, must ensure that this matter is treated as a potential criminal investigation, not an administrative inconvenience. The Unit exists for precisely these scenarios. Its response—or lack thereof—will be read as a measure of the State’s seriousness about combating trafficking.

The Guyana Police Force, already named in allegations by the workers themselves, cannot be left to operate without independent scrutiny. Where there are claims of police involvement or intimidation, the Police Complaints Authority must be engaged immediately, and any implicated ranks removed from operational proximity to the case pending investigation.

And President Irfaan Ali cannot remain a distant observer.
The President stood at the commissioning of this very enterprise, lending it the authority and legitimacy of the State. That moment matters now. Public endorsement carries public responsibility. The Office of the President must ensure that no entity operating under that umbrella is permitted to violate the law with impunity.

This is not about presuming guilt. It is about demanding accountability.
Ekaa Hrim Earth Resources Management is not an unknown operator. It controls over a thousand acres of leased land, operates across multiple sectors, and is institutionally connected, including through publicly acknowledged ties to Texila American University under the leadership of Sarju Bhaskar. This is a company embedded within Guyana’s formal economic and regulatory structure.

Which raises an unavoidable question for the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC): what oversight has been exercised over this concession? What inspections have been conducted? What compliance failures allowed these alleged conditions to persist to the point of death?

If the State cannot account for conditions on licensed land, then licensing itself becomes meaningless.
Beyond the immediate human cost, there is a wider national consequence. Allegations of passport confiscation, debt demands, and restricted movement fall squarely within internationally recognized indicators of trafficking under the UN Palermo Protocol. If validated, this case places Guyana at risk of being associated—not rhetorically, but evidentially—with systems of exploitation it has long claimed to reject.

That reputational damage is not abstract. It affects investor confidence, international partnerships, and the country’s standing in global human rights assessments.
But more importantly, it speaks to who we are willing to be.
Guyana’s history carries the weight of labour exploitation—from slavery to indentureship—systems built on control, coercion, and the denial of freedom. The patterns described by these workers, if proven, are not relics of that past. They are warnings in the present.
The difference now is that the law is clear, the institutions exist, and the evidence is being recorded in real time.

What remains uncertain is whether those in authority will act.

The Government does not have the luxury of cautious delay. It has an obligation to move—immediately, transparently, and without regard to political or personal association.
Secure the workers. Return their documents. Ensure they are paid what they are owed. Investigate the death. Pursue criminal liability where the evidence leads.
Anything less risks sending a message that in Guyana, exploitation can take root behind the façade of legitimacy—and that those responsible may rely on proximity to power to shield them from consequence.

One man is already dead.
There are others still inside that operation.

What is done next will determine whether this country confronts this moment—or becomes defined by it.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣-𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 , 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.— ✦—