OVER the past week I noticed that Kaieteur News is making a concerted effort to tarnish the good work of the Ministry of Agriculture and its National Drainage and Irrigation Authority as again published in its Monday, July 20, 2009 edition “$78M Pump Station laughable- Canal Residents”

It seems as Kaieteur News is in a battle to find scandalous stories to sell its newspaper after being challenged by the other three daily newspapers. However, I have been a resident of Canal Number Two Polder for over 20 years cultivating in excess of 20 acres citrus and cash crop and have never witnessed massive infrastructure works undertaken over the past two years. The like of which farmers never witnessed.

It is unfortunate that the farmer in the article had to suffer losses, when a state of the art pump is installed to provide drainage. It is unfortunate that the article failed to reflect that the feeder canal could not be cleaned due to squatters occupying a government reserve. I do hope that the Ministry of Agriculture will enforce the NDIA’s Act.

Kudos must be given when deserved. At a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture last year, at which I was present, numerous representation was for the rehabilitation of the Stanleytown Pump and the Ministry has delivered after examining farmers’ request. The task is not to clear the feeder canal which will ensure the effective operation of the pump. Also I saw several newscasts at the commissioning of the very same Stanleytown Pump showing when it was switched on that it had to be switched off after five minutes of operation due to clogged feeder canal that needs to be cleared but is being obstructed by squatters. I therefore urge the Ministry of Housing to take a more supportive role and work along with the Ministry of Agriculture to clear the reserve.

I believe that Kaieteur News needs to be more informed about these projects rather than just showing up at a particular site and writing a story, which does not reflect a true representation of the issues, unless the objective of Kaieteur News is to spread misinformation and cast doubt among its readers.

I commend the Ministry of Agriculture for requesting public monitoring for its projects as was published. However, Kaieteur News needs to take on a more positive role. The laugh is now on Kaieteur News as their true intentions are being exposed. I end with, “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
SURAJ SINGH