And in other sugar matters, whatever happened to the Sugar Industry Commission of Inquiry?
A letter dated March 5th from the BSCFA to the Prime Minister noted that two months have gone by since and the work of the commission of inquiry has yet to begin despite GOB's commitment to activating the commission within thirty days of signing.
The BSCFA has expressed its discontent and claims that " a delay to fulfill this commitment represents a shameless act of deception and disrespect towards the cane farmers."
Today we asked the PM for an update on the commission and he says they cannot begin until proper consultations with all stakeholders have taken place:
Jo
"Can you give us an update on the sugar situation the BSCFA has written you and has pointed out that two months have gone by and the work of the commission of inquiry has still has not yet begun. They say that you guys are to your commitment."
Prime Minister, John Briceno
"Well, I think that the BSCFA and I have explained this to them and if they want to be fair, they will understand why is it has not happened. It so happens that when the terms was presented, I think the minister in his haste try to get this done quickly There were no consultations with BSI or the three other associations. There were only consultations with the BSCFA. So the commission of inquiry is headed by the Prime Minister. It is my responsibility to ensure that there is proper consultations by everyone. if you do not have proper consultations, then you could have one of the associations or BSI do not participate and if they do not participate, then it is going to be a colossal waste of time and money so to ensure that we could get it done right and that is exactly what we are doing. We have contacted the two persons from Brazil That has done similar work in El Salvador and we are in the process of being able to probably sign a contract with them to be able to come to be able to work with the other two persons that are coming in from Mauritius. So we are working on it and it is no used to call the commission of inquiry and no one will participate. Then we are wasting our time."
