President Bharrat Jagdeo has told more than 400 farmers owed for paddy supplied to the Mahaicony Rice Limited (MRL) that one of their options was a class action lawsuit against the company in the Commercial Court.
On Thursday, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release said, Jagdeo met with farmers from regions Two, Four, Five and Six to discuss and offer them advice on possible actions they can take to get their money from MRL.
The company owes farmers approximately US$2 million for paddy supplied to them since the first rice crop last April. The paddy was for milling and export to European markets.
During the meeting, Jagdeo proposed a numbers of avenues for farmers to take, including filing a class action suit in the Commercial Court, where he said there is likely to be quicker action. Jagdeo, according to GINA, also promised farmers that he will contact the principal of MRL, Jai Beni, to register concerns about the delay in payment. The president will meet with farmers again in three weeks to follow up on the issue and to decide on several initiatives which are to be undertaken to ensure that farmers are given their dues.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud was also present at the meeting and noted that the president’s intervention was necessary, given the need to decide on other options. MRL’s failure to pay farmers, Persaud said, “is casting a negative shadow over the milling community.”
Persaud again vowed that all avenues will be pursued by the government to ensure that the farmers receive the money owed to them in a timely manner.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association Dharamkumar Seeraj stressed at the meeting that most of the promises made at the various meetings were never realised and farmers were forced to take the issues to the president with the hopes of a hasty intervention.
In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Agriculture, on behalf of the farmers, expressed displeasure at the inaction of the Guyana Police Force with regards to the MRL debt. The statement had also criticised what it said was the “unhelpful” position taken by the magistracy in respect of issues related to the matter.
An audit had been ordered by the ministry and the company reportedly breached the Rice Factories Act by failing to hand over records to state officials for review. The statement had said: “The Rice Factories Act No. 8 of 1998 provides for the retrieval of MRL’s records for review. In this regard, therefore, the cooperation of MRL’s senior officers is paramount and integral to this objective.”
The Director of Public Prosecutions had given instructions for police to charge MRL’s accountant Ishwar Singh. When police failed to locate him, Singh was charged in absentia. The presiding magistrate, however, refused to issue an arrest warrant, saying that Singh should have been warned to attend court first and if he failed to do so after a warning then an arrest warrant could be issued for him.
Other senior MRL officials, like General Manager Taramattie Ghani, cannot be located.
