Dear Editor,
A letter written by me appeared in the Stabroek News of Monday, December 19, 2011, in which I was enquired about the status of the Aurora Land Development Project, after more than five years. It was early in 2006, when then president, Bharrat Jagdeo accompanied by former minister of agriculture, Robert Persaud and other senior national and regional officials held a meeting at the Aurora Primary School, and promised the residents of that community to have more than five thousand, five hundred acres of arable land, developed and distributed to them, the landless, who met the criteria. All of this was to happen, six months from that day.
It is important to note that during my tenure as a Regional Democratic Councillor, from the Alliance for Change (AFC) list of candidates the question about the progress of this much touted project was asked at many RDC meetings, and also at the Agriculture and Works Committee, a statutory committee of the RDC on which I also served.
On each occasion, however, the answers were not informative or encouraging, and at times I got the distinct impression that the persons answering the questions were not honest in their responses.
In 2011 on the 8th April, Mr Jagdeo returned to the same venue, Mr Robert Persaud again with him, along with other senior agricultural officials, and one newcomer in the person of Mr Donald Ramotar.
Of course this was shortly after he was selected to be the People’s Progressive Party presidential nominee. This time both Mr Jagdeo and Mr Ramotar repeated the promise that was made to the more than five hundred persons more than five years before.
Both men spoke at length about this much important and long overdue project; their speeches were punctuated by raucous applause and the hope and joy of the people were evident in their facial expressions and body language, myself included.
However, after more than ten years there is no evidence to suggest that positive things had begun to happen with regard to this project that would have benefited thousands of people directly and indirectly.
In the Kaieteur News on July 1, 2015, I again by way of a letter to the editor, enquired about the land promised to the people by a Head of State. It appeared under the caption ‘The project that never was, and my hope was, that a comment by those who made those promises would have been made, but from then to now, the deafening silence continues, and the hope of the people has faded. The question to be asked, were these promises real? There is the old adage, ‘promises are made to be broken’; or ‘promises are comforting words but only to fools’; or ‘a promise is a debt’ ‒ just what are we to believe?
In 2006 Mr Jagdeo was seeking a second term, and in 2011 Mr Ramotar with the help of Mr Jagdeo was seeking his first; we the people that were there in 2006 and 2011 were seeking to have a piece of land. Jagdeo got his second, Ramotar got his first, but what did we the people get?
In retrospect it is reasonable to conclude that it was indeed a project that never was. I would bet my last penny that come 2020 more or similar types of promises would be made.
The 2017 Budget holds good for Agriculture, and there are high hopes for the people who are involved in the crops and livestock area. But producing more means getting more persons involved and occupation of land by the landless. The empoldering of this much needed land becomes more important and cannot be over emphasized.
Perhaps Minister Noel Holder, can say if anything was or is in the pipeline regarding this project.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W Cordis
