By Svetlana Marshall

GOVERNMENT’s “Meet the Public” initiative rolled into Essequibo on Thursday with officials solving problems on the spot and hearing of alleged acts of sabotage of the Region Two drainage and irrigation structures.Scores of rice farmers “poured out their hearts” as they consulted with ministers and other officials during the well-attended ‘Meet the Public Day’ at Perth Unity Park on the Essequibo Coast. The initiative was spearheaded by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, with the support of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix.

Another meeting was held at Aurora, where the Prime Minister’s Regional Representative, Karan Chand, told Guyana Chronicle that Opposition forces in the Essequibo Region are allegedly sabotaging the rice industry.

“There seem to be some sabotage in the region, and this is politically-driven,” Chand alleged, noting that “rangers are not doing their work.”

According to Chand, farmers have been complaining bitterly over the rangers’ failure to effectively execute their duties. “The rangers are the ones who are supposed to be in the fields monitoring the regulation of water,” he explained.

Chand said persons have been tampering with pumps and regulators within the district. He pointed out that, in November 2015, someone had sabotaged two pumps with sand. One of those pumps is located at Hampton Court. Quizzed why anyone would want to sabotage the rice industry at a time when it is struggling with extreme dry weather, Chand responded by pointing out that Local Government Elections are just months away.

“Local government elections coming up, and this area is predominantly Opposition area; it is a stronghold area for the Opposition, so some people want to do all they can to see that this Government does not succeed. They have their own agenda,” he posited.

FIRE THEM
Chairman of the Essequibo Paddy Farmers Association and Guyana Rice Development Board Member, Naitram, said those who are failing the rice industry should be fired. He agreed that the effects of the El Nino are further compounded by poor management of the drainage and irrigation systems in the region. “Some areas are having a free-for-all while others have no water. I have been lobbying long for implementation of a water schedule,” Naitram told reporters.

The failure of millers to fulfill their financial obligations to farmers was also among some of the other issues raised during the public forum. Reports indicate that although they have been paid in full by the GRDB, some millers are still to pay farmers debts dating back to March, 2015.

Farmers are now calling on the Government and the GRDB to take stern action against millers who continue to be defaulters.

LATE PAYMENTS
Better Success rice farmer Daniel Persaud complained bitterly to the Chronicle before meeting with the Minister of State. “The rice industry is dying, and why it is dying? Late payments from millers! Some millers owe farmers for a year now; some, seven months,” he said.

Persaud said Government must act fast in favour of rice farmers. “I want this Government to put drastic measures in place. Either they suspend (the millers’) licences, take it away or take them to court; but it can’t go on any longer, the Government needs to do something about it,” Persaud pleaded.

Reports indicate that during a recent meeting last week, the GRDB and the Essequibo Rice Farmers Association wrote to the Government a letter requesting that action be taken against millers who fail to discharge their financial obligations to farmers.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo, who dealt with the issues relating to rice, said the public meeting is an indication that the Government is concerned about the challenges facing rice farmers. “Coming here…was an act of assurance to the people of Essequibo that they are uppermost in our minds.” He declared.

He said he was pleased to have assisted farmers on the ground. “I had to make a call, during the meeting, to a miller after a rice farmer complained that he had not been paid for his rice, and that the bank had sent a letter threatening to take certain legal action against him. And at the moment while I was there, the miller assured me that he would pay this farmer today,” the Prime Minister said, noting that this Government will not tolerate millers not paying farmers.

The Prime Minister also pledged to address the other issues affecting rice farmers in the region.

At this ‘Meet the Public Day, representatives from the Ministry of the Presidency, Ministry of Social Cohesion, Ministry of Citizenship, Department of the Public Service, National Insurance Scheme (NIS), and Civil Defence Commission (CDC) addressed a wide variety of issues, ranging from land to matters relating to the issuance of birth

certificates and passports. Minister Harmon described the ‘Meet the Public’ initiative as another step taken by Government to have a system of “open governance.”