“Non-performing public servants from the Land Management Division will not prevent me from doing my job,” Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said yesterday as he vowed to crack down on land grabbers and delinquent farmers.
The tough talking Rambharat was addressing hundreds of former Caroni 1975 Limited workers who were retrenched in 2003 when the sugar industry was shutdown.
Saying land grabbing was evident across the country, Rambharat admitted to experiencing “tremendous frustration” by the lack of co-operation from public servants working in the Land Management Division.
“I will not be hindered by non-performing public servants in the conduct of my duties as a minister. From now to September I have made a promise that I will accelerate the work I am doing and where there is waste, including human resources who are idle, that I will take the appropriate steps,” Rambharat warned.
He also said an audit was being done by PricewaterhouseCoopers on every contract given out by the Estate Management Business Company (EMBD), a State enterprise which took charge of Caroni’s land assets when the company became defunct.
“We will audit every single contract awarded by EMBD in relation to development of those lands. Up to 2010, the development of a residential lot by EMBD was costing $160,000 at maximum. By 2015, it was costing taxpayers $760,000 to develop a lot of land,” Rambharat said.
He added: “If contractors were paid without doing work, or if contractors were paid more than they should be paid, steps will be taken to retrieve that money.”
The minister also said farmers who received their agricultural plots were likely to lose their lands if it was not under cultivation. He said it was not satisfactory that former workers had agricultural leases for more than two years and had not done any cultivation.
One former worker, Cecil Teelucksingh, admitted yesterday he had not cultivated his land because he did not know where it was located.
“We have no access to the lands and it is costing a lot to prepare the land. We don’t get subsidies and we cannot get loans. Caroni had $100 million in equipment. Why didn’t Caroni provide the equipment to prepare the land? Fertilizers and seedlings cost a lot of money,” Teelucksingh added.
Latchman Ramjohn also said he could not plant because there was no access to his plot. “It is dangerous, too, because we have no lights or water on the land,” Ramjohn added.
President general of the All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union, Nirvan Maharaj, could not be reached yesterday as calls to his cellphone went unanswered.