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| Farmers In Red Clinic Fashion -waiting |
With yet
another brazen and shameful vote buying type operation, the government of
Dominica decided that "clientelism" would be the preferred method for
the utilization and distribution of the Agricultural Development grant funding.
The funding which was provided by the World Bank was supposed to be invested in
the regeneration of the agricultural sector after the devastating winds of
Hurricane Maria.
Many people
were totally disgusted and disappointed in the way the Roosevelt Skerrit
government utilize $18 Million to play politics as oppose to genuinely investing
the money in developing a productive Agricultural sector. Quite interestingly a
fair portion of the discontent and criticism came from Labour Party supporters. Thanks
to our disgruntled Labourite friends, we received in our In-Box a copy of the
List of “Farmers” in the North, those who received commercial disbursements
of $10,000 and a separate list of small business “farmers” those who received
from $3000.00.
The List
We are in no
position to postulate on who should or should not have received funds nor are
we in a position to decide who should have made it on the commercial list or the list of small business farmers. What we know for sure
is that the manner in which the government of Dominica has handled the Agriculture
Emergency Relief grant by the World Bank, is disgraceful, despicable,
disrespectful and insulting to say the least.
The mere
appearance of a people groveling and climbing upon each other for a few puny
dollars is very much telling of the society that PM Roosevelt Skerrit and his
administration has nurtured. The biggest question that we all must ask is – was
there some type of "control and
assurance" program implemented by the government to insure that this $18
Million development funding will yield the maximum benefit?
According to
our sources the list is made up of people who are neither farmers nor small
business owners. For instance, it was pointed out to us that on this list of
“farmers” in the North a gentleman who received $10,000 and he is neither a farmer
nor a small business owner but instead works at a gas station pumping gas.
We have also
been warned that several members from the same household have received
disbursements under the commercial or small business category. In one instance
someone appeared on the list twice.
We understand
that all the “farmers” irrespective how much money they are receiving are asked
to sign the bottom of a document that states at the top of that same document
that the farmer is receiving $10,000. Is this an honest mistake or deliberate attempt to distort the money trail
and or to provide a favorable report to the World Bank?
In the interest
of transparency we are providing a copy of the list of “farmers.” Take note that
we insist on parenthesizing the word farmers because we want to leave it to the
readers to decide who they know to be the real farmers in Dominica. It is left
to you the readers to identify the imposters, the people who are in the NEP
program supervising grass cutters and yet are receiving $10,000. You the
readers must decide whether roadside grass cutting is a form of farming.
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| CLICK HERE to view "Farmer's List" |
It is the
readers who must ask themselves why it is that today we have over three
thousand “farmers “ yet prior to Hurricane Maria the agriculture industry was
at its lowest in the history organized
agriculture in Dominica.
We leave it to
the readers to figure out why it is that prior to Hurricane Maria only 7-10 farmers from the entire Vielle Case, Thibaud and Penville district
would consistently show up for engagements with officers from the Ministry Of Agriculture
yet the lion share of the funds designated for the Northern district goes to
Vielle Case, Penville and Thibaud. Out of
a total 152 commercial “Farmers” the government presented and approved 92 commercial
farmers in the Vielle Case area.
Under the small business farming section ,a total of 432 were approved Again the government approved 162 small businesses from Vielle Case out of the total of 432
small business farmers in the entire North of Dominica. Lets leave this for the "straight eye" analysis of Clarence Christian.
Two years ago Massinthecemetery
featured a prolific young farmer Hiliare John Baptist aka “Castle”. We reported
that Farmer Castle had been one of the premier banana producing farmers on the
island and one of the very few farmers who was able to stay in the fight
against the Black Sigatoka and the “red Sigatoka- the DLP” Farmer Hiliare John Baptist
had been running a well-organized farming business distributing bananas to
various outlets and also donating boxes of bananas to needy institutions free
of charge. We notice that Farmer Hiliare John Baptist did not make it to the
commercial. We leave it to the readers to ask why Farmer Castle was not on the
commercial list when he was the one of the largest banana producing farmer on
the island.
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| CLICK HERE to view the Commercial List |
The government
and its apologists would like nothing more than for this fraudulent, despicable
government conduct to be just “talk”. In the interest of transparency MiTC is
more than happy to provide you with the real document containing the list of
“farmers” in the north of the island who have received funding. We are
nevertheless very happy for the genuine farmers who have received the support
from the program and we hope that the moneys received will help in rebuilding
their farms.
We are also encouraging people to print out the list and give out copies to those who are conveniently blind.
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