Jagdeo left the rice and sugar industries in a mess

May 23, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
It is shameful to hear former President and PPP leader, Mr. B. Jagdeo, stating at a news conference recently that the Petro Caribe Fund was not about rice. This is misleading since monies owed by Guyana and under his Administration for the purchase of oil from Venezuela were paid into the Fund and in turn were disbursed through GRDB to pay farmers.The rice for oil deal saw some $32 billion being paid to rice farmers by 2015, and monies was even lent to rice millers who owed farmers. There is still a question mark as to whether these milers repaid their loans.
Mr. Jagdeo is hiding the truth that his Administration had raided the Petro Caribe Fund and had left it empty by the time the PPP was voted out of office in 2015. The new Coalition Government had to fork out US$15 million in 2015 to pay rice farmers who were owed and had budgeted $23 billion in its first Budget (2015) for some 7,000 rice farmers. The Jagdeo Administration had diverted over US$140 million to the GRDB, which was controlled by party cronies, and to the Ministry of Housing. Then under the control of Jagdeo’s friend, Irfan Ali, some monies also went to the Hope Canal project. The PPP (Jagdeo) regime left the rice industry in a mess, as it did with the sugar industry.
Earl Hamilton

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