Rahael: Panday imagining things

AGRICULTURE MINISTER John Rahael said Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday’s claims of secret meetings among People’s National Movement (PNM) officials to divide Caroni (1975) Limited’s lands were “a figment of his imagination.” Responding yesterday to a NACTA poll which said sugar workers were afraid that he had his “eyes set” on Caroni’s lands, the Minister told Newsday that sugar workers had nothing to fear. He said that fear arose from the fact that he was a businessman but he is now a Government Minister. “I am no longer a businessman. I have absolutely no interest in State lands whatsoever,” Rahael declared. Rahael said when he served as Port-of-Spain mayor from 1996 to 2001, he never used his office for personal gain.

He explained that Government did not need to create a company to get its hands on Caroni lands because those lands were already owned by the State. He also dismissed the poll’s findings which claimed ghost towns would arise in Central and South Trinidad due to Caroni’s closure. The Minister said the people of these areas were very resilient but Panday, former Attorney-General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (ATSGWTU) President-General Rudranath Indarsingh chose only to look at the negatives in Caroni’s closure and were missing the bigger picture. Rahael said improvements in the agricultural sector are already becoming visible and this process will be expedited once Caroni lands become available. He added that the newly-formed Estate Management Business Development Company will ensure proper and equitable use of Caroni’s lands for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes.