GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Clement Rohee, has said that Government’s aid to flood victims in several communities of the Mahaicony Creek and on the West Coast of Berbice reached affected persons when it was already too late to be effective.
Speaking to reporters at the PPP/C weekly press conference at Freedom House on Monday, Rohee said that Government’s attitude towards Region 5 farming communities is “callous…” and can be considered “gross disrespect”.
He said farms in Region 5 have been under flood waters for several days, but farmers have been ignored by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the Ministry of Communities (MoC), even as they appealed for Government’s assistance.
But when the accuracy of his statement was challenged by a reporter, who pointed out that Government visited the area up to Friday, Rohee said: “It’s too late! Too late!”
Contrary to Rohee’s claims, the Ministry of Agriculture’s National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), in collaboration with the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA), has launched an aggressive programme to mitigate flood conditions in Region Five.
The Ministry of Agriculture has said that, with Government’s intervention, it is now expected that flood waters would continue to recede.
Lovely Lass, Golden Grove, Trafalgar and Number 29 villages have been flooded since last week. Excessive rainfall, inoperable pumps at Trafalgar (which were vandalised two years ago), siltation of sluice outfall channel at Trafalgar, and the presence of much vegetation in many village drainage channels have been found responsible for this regrettable situation, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Saturday.
It also announced that two pumps have been deployed to the Trafalgar sluice, while another has been installed at Bush Lot Village. Four excavators have also been moved to the flooded areas, with two currently working at Trafalgar North, one at Trafalgar South and the other at Golden Grove North.
Two tractor pumps are currently draining floodwaters in the residential areas of Golden Grove North and Trafalgar North, and two additional tractor pumps have been deployed to drain the residential area of Trafalgar South, the MoA has said.
Moreover, it was discovered at 17:30 hrs on June 10 that flood waters had receded by two to three inches in the residential areas of Golden Grove North and Trafalgar North and South, according to the MoA.
But Rohee has said that while both rice and cash-crop farmers are devastated by the effects of the floods in those areas, the future looks gloomy for the entire region.
“For months now, the Ministry of Agriculture has proven to be a failure and totally insensitive to the farming community in Guyana, irrespective of whether they are cultivating rice or other agricultural products,” Rohee said.
However, the MoA has said that the NDIA and MMA/ADA have been working in conjunction with the RDC of Region Five and the relevant NDC, and had, in May, dredged the outfall channel at the Trafalgar sluice, but it was silted up after a few days of sunshine, resulting in reduced outflows.
Mahaicony riverine areas affected are Mora Point, Pine Ground, First Savannah, Gordon Table and Wash Clothes. Other areas affected are Moraikobai, Trafalgar/Union and Lovely Lass.
The PPP is demanding that persons in affected communities be “given immediate and unconditional assistance to compensate for their losses, and to ensure that their livelihoods are maintained and enhanced”.
Meanwhile, the party has said it joins with Guyana and the world in observing the 36th anniversary of the assassination of Dr Walter Rodney, and looks forward to the debate in the National Assembly on the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Rodney’s killing.
Rejecting any attempt to ‘water down’ the recommendations contained in the CoI report, Rohee has defended his party holding an inquiry into the death of Walter Rodney decades after taking office as “better late than never!”
