Earlier in the news, you saw Opposition Leader John Briceno discussing former Prime Minister Said Musa's decision to retire from electoral politics. The Fort George Division was considered a very safe seat for the PUP. But, now that Musa is stepping down, the Opposition, and his would-be replacement, Henry Charles Usher, will have to defend it against the ruling UDP and their candidate, Melvin Hewlett, in the next general elections.
This evening's conversation with Briceno allowed the press to ask the PUP's call for urgent relief to the banana industry. As we told you, although Hurricane Nana did not cause major infrastructural damage when it made landfall in the Stann Creek District last week, it did hurt the farmers in the country's banana belt.
Last week, the PUP called for the government to provide urgent relief to the banana industry.
In a press release, the party said, quote, "We call on the government to immediately provide whatever assistance is necessary to bolster this industry. This cannot be a replay of the situation with our farmers in the North who are still awaiting drought relief promised to them since September 2019." End quote.
The Opposition Leader told the press that from their preliminary discussions with the affected farmers, their financial loss is in the millions. Here's that part of our nearly 54-minute conversation with Briceno:
Hon. John Briceno - Leader of the Opposition
"I think we need to be grateful that Nana generally spared us. There was no loss of life. There is a little bit of damage to homes and buildings. But, as you know, the banana tree is very susceptible to wind. And whilst Nana did not create much infrastructural damage, it created significant damage to the banana fields in the south. I'm told that it's about close to 40% of the banana fields that were lost. I don't have the exact figures with me, but they run into the 10s of millions of dollars lost. What will the government do? I don't think they're going to do anything about it. They're going to be there counting and counting, and then nothing is going to happen. We saw that happen with our farmers in the north, with the drought almost 2 years ago, and a little money was promised to them. Hopefully, we're going to get something these days, just because obviously, there is an election that's imminent. So, I don't expect much from the Government. But, what I think that Government needs to is to sit down with these farmers, and to see how they can help them in trying refinance their loans, talking to the bank, seeing if we can do a restructuring of what they owe, talk to the IFI's and see if they can get low-cost, long-term payment loans, so that they can pass on to the banana industry."
