Coalition tried to destroy agriculture sector

Dear Editor,
Shocking, disgraceful, dreadful, ghastly, incredulous, intolerable are words which immediately come to mind when it was revealed by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Mr Zulfikar Muatapha, that the Coalition had bought 12 defective and undersized ‘fire pumps’.
Those pumps were so defective that they could not even be used for their intended purpose; that is, to extinguish fires. This was just a little demonstration of the corruption, the wastage, and the fraud which dominated the Coalition’s term in office. Was the subject Minister sleeping?
Since the Coalition assumed office in 2015, they embarked on a deliberate plan to destroy the agriculture sector, which they had perceived as the PPP support base. This plan could have been discerned when the budgetary allocation continued to decline year after year, from 2015 to $18 billion in 2019. Production fell dramatically.
This tells a sad tale of the recipe for the Dutch Curse, yet Mr Khemraj Ramjattan portrayed a skewed vision, or is delusional. According to a report in the media, the AFC Leader is now having a vision that the Budget 2022 ‘is reflective of a country that is already heading down the path of the resource curse or the Dutch Disease, as is evidenced by the figures presented, confirming a heavy reliance on oil funds while at the same time the non-oil economy shrinks.’ Now that he is on the other side of the House, he can ‘see clearly now that the power is gone’.
The annual allocations for agriculture in the budgets of the Coalition lacked the vision to transform the sector, and the then Minister of Agriculture was clueless.
But, sadly, it was not only about the slashing of the agriculture budgetary allocation by the Coalition from 2015 onwards, but the callous and deliberate closure of four sugar estates without any plan for the survival of the severed workers, which in one stroke propelled thousands into hunger and deprivation.
The EU Strategy for the closed estates clearly spelt out that the severed sugar workers must be taken care of, and a plan must be in place. In fact, a socio-economic impact analysis had to be done, and ameliorating measures had to be implemented. This was ignored by the Coalition, since the insane haste to close took precedence. Their focus was on the oil revenue.
It would seem that the AFC Leader is viewing with closed eyes the numerous developments which are taking place in the agriculture and other sectors. Budget 2022 is well-balanced to create and propel social and economic development in all the sectors. How can the AFC Leader arrive at such a nonsensical conclusion, when the oil funds are being used to jump-start the economy itself? Where is the wastage? How can corruption be assumed?
I cannot see the ‘figures or numbers’ in the Budget which would support Ramjattan’s conclusion. I would like to remind him of what his colleague has said in her presentation, “Numbers matter, they do not lie”.
I must applaud the Minister of Agriculture for his graphic and dramatic presentation on what the Coalition expects with regards to the reopening of the closed estates. There is no ‘magic wand’, the Minister pointed out, and the Government cannot use the magical phrase ‘Open Estate Open!’ (phrase from the Arabian Nights’ Alibaba and the Forty Thieves – ‘Open Sesame Open’). The Coalition, though, was quick to say, ‘Close Estate Close’, and it materialised immediately.
I am wondering if any of the APNU/AFC MPs ever ventured back to the closed estates and the surrounding communities to have a first-hand view of their dirty handiwork. They would have come to reality when they tried in futility to debate on the Budget. It was a ‘panoramic destruction which occurred on the closed estates. Thousands upon thousands of hectares of standing canes were unsalvageable and had to be burnt, raked, removed and ploughed, planted. Navigation canals were completely clogged and had to be excavated; hundreds of cane punts were completely damaged, and were beyond repair; the buildings were in ruins; machines and equipment were damaged or stolen; the factories themselves had to be completely rehabilitated and repaired, and the list goes on. Billions were lost!
This cost in the billions should be borne by the Coalition, but now they are shamelessly objecting to the spending on the closed estates and expect a miracle to happen. This Government has undertaken a Herculean task, and these Coalition MPs should visit these estates to appreciate this. But they never did, and they never would.
Honesty is the best way to prevent a mistake turning into a failure. The Coalition should accept that they erred. But never will they accept their bad ways and poor governance. I will close by quoting Minister Charles Ramson, Jr., “The APNU/AFC record is smeared in stagnation, corruption and incompetence; while the PPP boasts progress, ‘clean hands’, and sound policies”.

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf