JAN 10

The opposition People's Labour Movement (PLM) of Dr. Francis Alexis has welcomed the decision taken by farmers on the island to elect small farmer Keith Clouden as their representative to the Senate.

Clouden got the nod last Wednesday at a meeting attended by the various commodity boards on the island such as the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA), Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association, and the state-controlled Marketing & National Importing Board.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that Sen. Clouden easily turned back the challenge of Byron Campbell, a member of the GCNA Board of Directors and current Manager of the Grenada Building & Loan Association. In a statement issued Monday, the PLM political leader praised the farmers around the island for putting their confidence in Clouden, whose brother Anslem Clouden also served as a Senator in the last parliament.

According to Dr. Alexis, the farmers must be very warmly congratulated for choosing Clouden, adding that the choice suggests that farmers "are rightly ready to encourage young people to help with the revival and growth of agriculture".

He also said it is vitally important to get young people to devote themselves full-time to agriculture. This, he added is a key factor in making agriculture commercially viable, developing the full potential of agriculture, and ensuring that agriculture is the backbone of our national economy.

Dr. Alexis noted that the vigorous pursuit of these objectives derives fertile cultivation from the choice of Keith Clouden as Agriculture Senator. He described Clouden as "a model young farmer who by his constant example of a life devoted full-time to agriculture is showing young people that agriculture can pay".

"Keith Clouden richly deserves the agriculture seat in the Senate ...", Dr. Alexis said. Clouden was once associated with Alexis when he formed the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) after breaking ties with the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).