Dear Editor,
I have heard several times the opposition telling the government to fulfill the campaign promise of giving rice farmers $9,000 per bag of paddy but I cannot recollect hearing such promise.
What I do remember is Dr. Turhane Doerga and Mr. Jinnah Rahaman telling the public at many public meetings of which I was in attendance that the previous government could have afforded to pay rice farmers nothing less than $3000 for a bag of paddy because the Venezuela deal is working out to somewhere around $9000 a bag of paddy.
Maybe the opposition, more specifically former President Jagdeo can provide the evidence to support this claim because I really cannot remember listening to any public speaker from the APNU+AFC saying rice farmers would get $9000 per bag of paddy.
It is my opinion that Jagdeo and his colleagues are trying to frustrate this new government by claiming what had never happened. It is factual that rice farmers should be paid better prices for their paddy but never did APNU+AFC say $9,000.
Yours faithfully,
Ganesh Mahipaul
