Dear Editor,
It is absolutely within the bounds of absurdity and dishonesty for the main opposition party and their acolytes to claim that the government has, in any way, neglected to do all that is within their means to prepare adequately to deal with floods afflicting the country, especially since the unprecedented heavy rainfall that occurred in 2005, reportedly the highest since 1935, when records started to be kept. But, even before this deluge, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and their sub-agencies, has been pro-active in repairing, improving, extending and maintaining the necessary infrastructure, systems and procedures, that was very necessary, given the poor and neglected conditions of the infrastructure inherited from the previous regime.
Some people have short memories and are exploited by propaganda efforts to belittle the government’s massive investments and works to rebuild and upgrade the infrastructure to deal with drainage and irrigation. Before we ever heard of climate change or had unprecedented levels of rainfall, plus rising sea levels, many areas in the country were repeatedly flooded, but we never heard much of this because of the previous government’s control of the media.
Today, we have a free media, and there are no restrictions on what they publish. We notice that pictures are published of flooded areas very prominently, but when the water runs off, a statement is made to this effect, but the media doesn’t publish pictures of the previously flooded areas. This is because they have an agenda to sow alarm and despondency among the populace, and blame the government for alleged neglect, which cannot be substantiated.
The government continues to make massive investments and interventions to deal with the results of unprecedented levels of rainfall and rising sea levels, and with the drainage and irrigation systems, and started doing so long before 2005.
Yours faithfully,
John Da Silva