Ramchand: Govt only seeing dollars

Independent Senator Ken Ramchand referred to the Latin poet Cato, to liken the Government to “a Roman scrooge that has a strong predilection for capitalism, whatever the human cost.” Ramchand was speaking at the Senate’s debate on the Bill entitled, “An Act to provide for the vesting of the operational undertakings of Caroni (1975) Ltd in another company and the vesting of the real estate undertakings of Caroni (1975) Ltd and Orange Grove National Company Ltd in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and to provide for the management of and for the development of those real estate undertakings.”

Ramchand inaugurated his contribution by echoing a literary sentiment, that the breakdown of people’s relationship with the land and its subsequent industrialisation, has significantly contributed to the evils and oppressive things that plague the country. He stressed the importance of the development of agriculture in a small country like TT. He also expressed curiosity over the Inter-agency Land Use Planning Team that produced a report on Caroni, that was accepted by Cabinet and influenced their current position. “Who is this ghost team?” asked Ramchand. “What are their qualifications and experience, that they can put together a report in nine months that determined what was to be done with Caroni.” He also criticised the application of the Town and Country Act of 1969 and expressed his dismay, saying, “the strategy for effective management and growth of the nation’s land under sustainable development is based on a 36-year old Act.”

He said if Government is serious about land development and agriculture, they should bring to Parliament a “Planning and Development Land Act” to encompass the entire country instead of isolating Caroni alone. “Any plane for Caroni and Orange Grove,” he said, “has to be seen in the overall notion of the whole country.” He was also concerned with the low priority that Government seemed to place on agriculture and the people who are involved with working the land. “The Government boasting about gas and oil, yet they have to go down in Chatham and displace people to build an aluminium smelter,” said Ramchand. “All civilisations that are worthy of the term civilisations recognises the value of agriculture.” He warned the Government not to “forget people, community and social capital, and operate on purely economistic grounds.”