THE EDITOR: In the past week or so, at least two Opposition MPs issued press releases on the locust infestation in south Trinidad, calling for action on the part of Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat.

At the time, MP Barry Padarath (Princes Town) stated that the presence of the biblically referenced insect was confined to Princes Town and environs. However, the pest quickly spread to other parts of the South, with no intervention by the minister, giving suspicious credence to claims by Padarath and Couva North MP Ravi Ratiram that the minister was 'sleeping on the job.'

Is it a coincidence though that only when the locusts reached the PNM-controlled constituencies of San Fernando West and Point Fortin that the ministry then decided to take action?

Is that what governance and representation of the people have come to in this country? If so, then this is akin to blatant political discrimination in its most open form and should be condemned in the strongest possible way.

How long are citizens going to accept political spite and bad-mind in the receipt of basic services, which seems to manifest in a most proliferate manner when the PNM is in government? Is it too much to ask that our people, all our people, live as first class citizens in our own country?

The Opposition MPs asked for the affected areas to be sprayed and for compensation to farmers for loss of crops and livelihood. So far I have only read that the ministry was spraying affected areas.

However, even before this, farmers in areas like Cap-de-Ville were purchasing insecticide and spraying their gardens because they could not afford to wait on the minister to step in; by then their crops would have been no more.

As such, what is the Agriculture Ministry doing to reimburse and/or compensate farmers for their losses? What about all citizens whose kitchen gardens have been eradicated because of these locust swarms? Is Rambharat going to shrug and say 'hard luck dey?'

By the way, can the minister give us some realistic, achievable plans for that $300 million of our taxpayer dollars that's supposed to go into an 'agriculture stimulus package?' Or is the Opposition again going to have to question the Government in one year's time why the money was not spent, as happened with the last $500 million allocation?

RALPH DEONARINE

Chase Village

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