President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced that CARICOM is directing its focus to Haiti’s immediate needs instead of extending healthcare aid and deploying military personnel to that country as was previously intended. Guyana’s position has always been that the region should work with the elected government of the people of that country and should not pattern the developed countries which in times of disaster go into the affected countries and create their own plans, the President said at a press conference at the Office of the President..
The President pledged Guyana’s continued support to the priorities of the Haitian government as were identified by Haiti’s President Rene Preval. Haiti still requires immediate financial help to provide shelter to people who are living on the street and are vulnerable. That country needs US$ 20 million to buy tents because the rainy season is approaching and in fact that country already had rain and experienced a mud slide.
According to President Jagdeo, resuscitating the agriculture sector is another priority for the Government of Haiti since farmers have lost all their crops and do not have any possibility of replanting. He added that with the cheap food supply coming into Haiti, its agriculture sector could be destroyed along with the income generating capabilities of the people.
“So Haiti needs money to do flood control, to clear the ravines, to buy fertilizers and seed for the farmers…and to rebuild schools in Haiti and healthcare… we thought that since very little money was flowing to the Haitian government that we should support the Haitian government directly,” he said.
Guyana has since sent US$ 1 million directly to the Haitian government which the President said would be used to support the revival of the Haiti’s agriculture sector and its productive capacity.
Haiti currently needs US$ 8.3 million to buy fertilizers and seeds. The President urged donors to support the line items that Haiti needs.
He said many donors use the issue of corruption as an excuse for not giving the Haitian government money despite statements to the contrary by the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Regional Head of the World Bank.
“We also said that we will continue our efforts to lobby for Haiti, lobby for the disbursement of resources, for debt relief for Haiti,” President Jagdeo affirmed.
According to the President, Haiti needs another kind of debt relief initiative that is beyond what was proposed before Haiti’s disaster since that country cannot repay any debt at this point in time and it would be a “travesty and a crime” to have them repay debt when there are people who lack shelter and food.
Guyana stood out among many countries in the world for its generosity based on an assessment done in relation to the nation’s contribution and was recognized for this in a letter from the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The President expressed gratitude to the Guyanese people for their collective and individual efforts to raise resources both financial and other to assist Haiti in their time of need.
“The situation in Haiti continues to be difficult and although the attention of the world has now shifted to other countries and other disasters and other issues, we must be very careful that in CARICOM we don’t divert our attention from the challenges of Haiti and in the reconstruction of Haiti,“ President Jagdeo stated. (GINA)