In a recent community meeting with rice farmers in Black Bush Polder, Minister of Agriculture Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha admitted that the APNU+AFC was correct that aid grants for farmers went to “people’s friends and family”. He made this statement as he was shamelessly attempting to divert blame from the gross mismanagement of the PPP to the members of the community by saying, “The residents in the area should have pointed it out. You can’t expect us as ministers to know who should not get”.
The APNU+AFC has accused the PPP of using the grants as a slush fund for giving taxpayers money to the friends and family of PPP members and supporters who have no agriculture businesses. “People who never planted a blade of grass,” a Member of Parliament pointed out.
The APNU+AFC continues to call on the government to publish the list of those people who claimed tax payer’s money as the only way to ensure accountability to those taxpayers who deserve to know where their money went. Many farmers are still complaining about not receiving any aid. This is in large part because the money set aside for their struggling farms went to “people friends and family” as the Minister put it.
More. In The Ring.
