On the night of May 10th, 2026, a video was posted on TikTok of Richard Currie announcing that nomination day for the Accompong Maroon election will be Friday, May 15th, and that the election will be held on Friday, May 22nd.
Let the drum sound across the hills, he said. Let every elder stand proud. Let every youth unite.
Strong words. The kind of words that stir the spirit of any Maroon who loves this land. But the people of Accompong have been hearing strong words for five years. And after five years, it is time to ask a simple question: what did those words produce?
This report is a defense of the process — the centuries-old democratic traditions that have governed this community since before Jamaica was a nation. And it is an honest accounting of a leadership that promised everything and delivered nothing — and is now trying to hold onto power by any means necessary.
THE PROMISES
When Richard Currie was elected Colonel in February 2021, he came in with a mandate for change. He defeated the incumbent, Ferron Williams, 681 votes to 400 — a decisive victory. He promised economic sovereignty. Infrastructure development. Improved water systems. Entrepreneurial skills. Family-oriented education. He branded his administration the Sovereign State of Accompong, called himself Paramount Chief, cultivated a high-profile image on social media, and put Accompong in headlines from the Jamaica Gleaner to Forbes.
And within his first 100 days, he made an announcement that was supposed to change everything.
THE NUC DEAL
On April 23rd, 2021, Colonel Currie posted to Instagram that the Government of the Sovereign State of Cockpit Country had secured what he called a long-term phased investment from the NUC Development Foundation. The deal, he said, would see disbursements of an aggregate of $50 million USD in stablecoin value over a 15-year period. The money, he said, would go toward clean water, food security, and agricultural development. Profit sharing from the agreement, he said, would help finance the Accompong Water Project to provide running water to the Maroons of Accompong.
He said he made this decision after, in his words, careful due diligence, relying on his experience with an MBA in Banking and Finance and over 15 years in corporate management.
Cockpit Country Ready for Digital Currency, the graphic read. The NUC Stablecoin system which has a 1:1 USD ratio.
So what was NUC? The New Unit of Coin was a cryptocurrency token built on the Stellar blockchain, promoted by individuals based in the United States. The token was supposedly backed by a single asset — a rough ruby in zoisite matrix, 32,000 carats, appraised at $783 million USD. The appraisal was conducted by Heritage Jewelry Appraising Inc. in Ocoee, Florida. The stone was held at the Sarasota Vault Depository in Florida.
This was the foundation upon which the Colonel staked Accompong’s economic future.
Today, five years later, where is the $50 million? Where is the clean water? Where is the food security? Where is the agricultural development? Where is the Accompong Water Project?
The people of Accompong know the answer. They are still waiting. They are still without. The $50 million never came. The stablecoin deal produced nothing. The water project was never built. The promises were never kept.
Five years. Not one of the headline commitments of this administration was delivered to the people of Accompong.
THE PATTERN
This is the pattern. Grand announcements. International headlines. Instagram posts. Celebrity endorsements. The branding of sovereignty. And behind the curtain — nothing for the people who actually live on this land, who carry water, who rebuild after storms, who bury their dead in Maroon soil.
When Hurricane Melissa devastated Accompong in October 2025, Colonel Currie rejected the Jamaican government’s offer to send the Jamaica Defence Force to assist with reconstruction. He said civilian-led recovery was more culturally appropriate. He spoke of international donations, technical sponsorships, and volunteer engineering assistance through the Accompong Development Foundation.
But the community is the one that knows what the recovery actually looked like. The community is the one that knows what arrived and what didn’t.
And the relationship with the Jamaican government? The Holness administration reportedly instructed government agencies to stop engaging with or funding activities in Accompong under Currie’s leadership. Whatever one thinks of that decision, the effect was real — and the people of Accompong bore the cost of a broken relationship that their Colonel created.
WHAT THE PROCESS REQUIRES
Now this same leader, who promised $50 million and delivered nothing, who branded sovereignty but broke the relationships that sustain the community, who held office for five years and left the people where he found them — this same leader is now attempting to control the election that will decide his successor.
Here is what the Accompong election process requires.
The Colonel serves a five-year term. Currie’s term expired on February 18th, 2026.
When a Colonel’s tenure expires before a new election is organized, governance is to transfer to an interim council — not retained by the outgoing leader.
An election council is to be formed with input from all candidates. Each candidate nominates two representatives.
The Electoral Office of Jamaica, which has assisted with Accompong elections since 1982, trains the enumerators.
The voter’s list is reviewed and verified by representatives of all candidates
The election date is set by consensus.
These are not suggestions. These are the customs that have governed Maroon self-determination for nearly three hundred years. They belong to every Maroon.
WHAT CURRIE HAS DONE
Here is what Richard Currie has done instead.
He did not transfer power to an interim council. He continued to act as Colonel after his term expired, posting a video declaring he was still the chief and that he would be the one to call the election.
He did not consult rival candidates about the formation of an election council. He formed one on his own, populated by people loyal to his administration.
He did not engage the Electoral Office of Jamaica to train enumerators. In March, the EOJ confirmed it had received a request to manage the election but was still waiting on what it called “certain particulars.”
He did not ensure candidate participation in the enumeration. Former Colonels Meredith Rowe and Ferron Williams have both stated publicly that enumeration was carried out without their knowledge or involvement.
Reports emerged in April that non-Maroons were being encouraged to register on the voter’s list using only an ID and birth certificate — without the traditional interview to verify Maroon connection. The person conducting the enumeration was reportedly not a Maroon themselves.
A body created under Currie’s administration has been screening candidates for eligibility — and reportedly refused to acknowledge Meredith Rowe’s candidacy despite written notification.
And a 2022 constitution pushed through under Currie’s leadership contains residency requirements that could disqualify rivals — requirements that Currie himself did not meet when he ran for Colonel in 2021. As Ferron Williams has publicly stated, Currie was not living in Accompong at the time of his own election.
To summarize: the outgoing Colonel, whose term has expired, is deciding who can run, who can vote, who counts the votes, and when the vote happens. No proper enumeration has been completed. No candidate consensus has been reached. No EOJ oversight is in place.
And on May 10th, 2026, he announced the election is twelve days away.
THE COURT FILING
On May 5th, 2026, former Colonel Meredith Rowe filed an application for an interim injunction in the Supreme Court of Jamaica, Civil Division, under claim number SU2026CV.
The filing asks the court to immediately prohibit Currie from acting as Colonel, selecting an interim council, creating an election council, compiling a voter list, or calling an election.
It asks the court to declare all actions taken by Currie since February 18th null and void.
It asks the court to order Currie to surrender all community assets, funds, and documents to a justice of the peace or the nearest police station.
And it asks the court to order that all candidates be allowed to nominate representatives to the election council — the very foundation of a fair process.
The affidavit was sworn on April 30th before a Justice of the Peace in Montego Bay. The claim was filed by Philip, Trail and Company, attorneys based in Trelawny.
Colonel Currie had not publicly responded to the court filing at the time of this report.
RACING THE COURT
The timing cannot be ignored. The injunction was filed on May 5th. The election announcement came five days later, on May 10th. Nomination day is set for May 15th. The election is set for May 22nd.
A Supreme Court injunction is pending. And yet, we are told the election is twelve days away.
If the election proceeds as announced — without a verified voter’s list, without candidate participation in the electoral machinery, without EOJ oversight, and with a Supreme Court injunction pending — it will not be an election. It will be a wound on the body of Accompong.
For five years, the people of Accompong were told to wait. Wait for the investment. Wait for the water. Wait for the development. Wait for the future that was promised.
Nothing came.
And now, the same man who asked the people to wait is rushing — not to deliver what he promised, but to secure another term before the courts, the candidates, and the community can hold him accountable.
The people of Accompong did not fight the British Empire to have their own democratic traditions dismantled from within. The process that governs this community is older than Jamaica. It is older than the courthouse where the injunction now sits. And it must be protected — not for any candidate, but for every Maroon who will inherit what we do next.
This is not about one man. This is about whether Accompong’s democracy belongs to its people or to whoever holds the seat.
Accompong News will continue to follow this story as it develops. We call on the Supreme Court to act with urgency. We call on all parties to respect the rule of law and the customs of this community. And we call on every Maroon, wherever you are — in Accompong Town, in Whitehall, in Cedar Spring, in Elderslie, in Garlands, in Aberdeen, in Windsor, in Kingston, in Montego Bay — pay attention. This is your community. This is your process. This is your moment.
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