The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) is yet to issue a response to the claims by General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers Association Dharamkumar Seeraj that it has signed a questionable contract for the procurement of $420 million in fertilizer.
Seeraj had stated on Friday at a press conference that Cabinet had recently approved a contract for the procurement of about $420 million in Urea fertilizer and the RPA was calling on the authorities to backpedal on the deal.
He had alleged that the GRDB was the executing agent in the signing of the contract and condemned the board for this.
“This is in direct contravention to the laws, norms and conventions applicable to the acquisition of farmers’ inputs,” Seeraj said, stating that there was no advertisement or bidding, which is imperative in sourcing of farming supplies. He went on to say that the supplier who is allegedly contracted was a popular and publicly-known campaign financier of the APNU+AFC coalition in the recent elections. He had also pointed out that while the RPA had been directly involved in the negotiations over the past decades in relation to procurement of farming supplies, it had not been notified this time around.
Seeraj had also claimed that the GRDB was planning on selling the fertilizer at an increased price. He said that while it is currently being sold for about $4,300 per bag, the new deal will see the price jump to $5,000 per bag.
Stabroek News has been trying persistently to secure a comment from Head of the GRDB Nizam Hassan since Friday, to no avail.
This newspaper was told by a source that the GRDB had planned to issue a statement on the matter since Friday. When the statement was not issued over the weekend, Stabroek News contacted Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder on Monday and was redirected to the GRDB. Hassan spoke with this newspaper on Monday during a visit to the GRDB office, but would only say that a statement would be issued that same day. To date there has been no statement and Hassan has since been unavailable.
