Dear Editor,
Thank you very much for the piece in SN May, 13, 2008, ‘More questions than answers over ice factory construction.’ Some of us were beginning to wonder if we had been left behind. After several meetings, letters and representations most official agencies – EPA, Sea Defence, Lands and Surveys, CH& PA, etc, – appear to believe that silence was better part of valour when an ice factory has been operating in the community for more than two months now, constructed on lands which, at best, are disputed, or, worse, private property.
It has no permission, no permit, no EIA, or authorisation from any regulatory agency to build, other than the “go ahead” from three ministers of government. The first of these came when two ministers of the government, one from Public Works and one from the Office of the President, visited the nearby fishport (Berbice cabinet outreach November 16-17, 2007) and gave the “go ahead.” Stabroek News, November 17, 2007, reported that the ministers met with the fishermen at the nearby fishport and gave the “go ahead” to the ice factory. Two things about this “go ahead.” First, an hour before giving the “go ahead” one of the ministers participated in a meeting with the Minister of Local Government with residents of No. 68 Village where the matter was raised by residents. The Minister of Local Government asked for a report on it and promised his intervention. Second, the Minister of Works was subsequently written to and asked for an audience. No response was received.
The second “go ahead” was given on February 1, 2008, when the Minister of Agriculture visited the fishport at No. 66 Village and met with fishermen. It was there and then he asked if any of them had any objection to the construction of the ice factory and gave his “go ahead” when the fishermen responded with a gleeful “no.” The Minister’s intervention was confirmed at a meeting later with the Chairman of the Region, in the presence of the local Magistrate and the Director of the Berbice Campus, UG, where three persons who had attended the previous meeting confirmed what the Minister said.
But the Minister knows more than has previously been made public.
Immediately upon his appointment after the elections in 2006 the Minister visited the fishport at No. 66 Village. Subsequently a letter was received in the community from the Minister asking why residents were objecting to the “fishermen, boat builders and farmers” plying their trade on the “government reserve.” When informed that these were, in fact, squatters and trespassers and had been issued “trespass” notices he politely responded with a request to discuss the matter. When he was eventually informed of the full extent of the illegality in the area he begged off and passed the matter over to his colleague in the Ministry of Labour, also responsible for Co-ops. In other words, the Minister has known for some time of the complaints of residents and the aggressive attitude of the fishermen.
He decided to resolve the matter by appeasing the fishermen. But appeasement is a terrible price for an insecure and temporary peace.
The only question now is whether the government will continue to allow politics to rule the roost or permit the rule of law and due process to arrest the process.
Yours faithfully,
L. Autar
We are sending a copy of this letter to Minister of Agriculture, Mr Robert Persaud for any comments he may wish to make.
