Latest update October 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 30, 2022 Letters
Dear Editor,
I refer to Peeping Tom’s column, “The PNC/R is predictable”, published in Kaieteur News, Sunday, May 29, 2022. In particular, I reference the statement, “No one said anything also when APNU+AFC rolled out its Rural Agricultural Infrastructural Development (RAID) project in Ithaca, Buxton, Beterverwagting and Mocha. No one complained then about neglect.” This statement was made apparently to blunt the justifiable criticisms made by the Opposition Leader about the neglect of the mainly African-Guyanese communities of Zambia and Little Africa in Black Bush Polder. I will now use this opportunity to provide background and context to the RAID project.
Under the minority PPP/C government of President Donald Ramotar, the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) was approached for a loan to fund farm-to-market roads in selected areas of the country. On July 6, 2013, loan (GUY/L0001): Guyana/CDF Access Road Project, was signed in the amount of US$11 million. The purpose of the loan was to construct four roads and bridges to enable farmers to improve access to farms and markets, expand agricultural production by bringing new lands under cultivation and modernise and expand facilities in Parika, Ruby, Laluni and Onverwagt. At the closing-out ceremony for the project, held in November, 2016, it was disclosed that 35,000 persons and 9,500 households benefitted directly from the project. So successful was the project that a second phase was contemplated to provide even more benefits to these same areas.
Immediately after the Coalition government entered Office, in May 2015, I engaged the CDF about a new Country Assistance Programme (CAP), 2015-2020. Given the government’s expressed intention of bringing development to all parts of the country, I related to the CDF that we would prefer that the project’s objectives and success be replicated in other areas of the country, especially previously neglected areas. This stance resulted in the RAID project being conceptualised and a loan and grant agreement signed in December 2016. It targeted Buxton, Beterverwagting, Ithaca and Mocha. These are all communities with a history of farming; they possess rich agricultural lands, which remained unutilized or under-utilised because of poor drainage, among other depressing socio-politico-economic factors. Specifically, therefore, the RAID project was aimed at bringing 2500 acres of abandoned lands back into cultivation, organising 1200 farmers into cooperatives, and supplying excavators, tractors, pumps to clear and plough the lands, among other worthy objectives.
The correctness of the Coalition government’s policy is evident today, when the world is experiencing food shortages, and CARICOM is seeking to cut the region’s food import bill by 25% by 2025. It is rather unfortunate for the RAID project to be cited by Peeping Tom in the manner that he/she did. In doing so, he/she may have unwittingly provided the reason why the project has been beset with problems and implementation difficulties over the past 18 months. Wither Guyana!
Yours faithfully,
Winston Jordan
Former Minister of Finance
October 1st turn off your lights to bring about a change!
Oct 18, 2024
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