Thank you for visiting WWW.BELGRAFIX.COM, "Grenada on the Internet, one byte at a time"

HOME	FEBRUARY 12th, 2005

Tell a friend about us

Tell a friend about us

Agriculture Minister Gregory Bowen has sought to clear the air behind government's decision to deploy officers of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) to the Taiwanese Agricultural Mission at La. Sagesse, St. David's.

Reports reaching GRENADA TODAY indicate that the lawmen took over the Mission last Saturday after they received reports about the property being vandalised by officials of the Taiwanese Mission stationed there.

La. sagesse farm was given to the Mission of the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) for agriculture purposes following the establishment of diplomatic relations between St. George's and Taipei 15 years ago. The Taiwanese had been able to use the facility over the years to boost agriculture production through the introduction of a wide range of crops.

Grenada last Thursday, officially severed ties with the ROC in favour of Beijing, in a move that has angered Taipei. China views Taiwan as a renegade province and has threatened to use force if it declares its independence.

The decision of the New National Party (NNP) administration of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to dump the ROC was, according to the Grenadian leader as a result of the lucrative aid package offered to Grenada by China. Dr. Mitchell has been in search of help to re-build his country ravaged by hurricane Ivan five months ago.

Speaking to reporters at the weekly news conference Bowen stated that government has always intended to deploy security at the facility. He pointed out that in discussions between the Ministry and officials of the Agriculture Mission on Monday, they had advised the Taiwanese as to the way forward for the facility.

The Agriculture Minister stated that they had informed the Mission about the need for security on the compound in light of stealing that had taken place. "Discussions were held in respect to the protecting or guarding of the equipment on the farm since we know of situations where drip pipes were taken away" Bowen noted.

He insisted that it was always the intention of government to have some security for the equipment. The Agriculture Minister disclosed that on the morning of Saturday calls came in about the place being vandalised and so security personnel were put in place to prevent further destruction.

The Taiwanese had accused Farmers Representative in the Senate Keith Clouden of interference saying that he had entered the property along with the police and had prevented them from removing some personal effects. Bowen stated that what will happen from now on is that the employees in the Mission will indicate to the officers stationed there what have been sold.

He said this will then allow persons who had purchased certain items permission to leave the compound without having to be stopped and what they had purchased seized by the police. "We therefore see the facility being utilised for the same agriculture purposes with a better mandate.

"Government has a vested interest in ensuring that the sale of items is being done properly and that's what we have undertaken to do" the senior government minister noted. "We want to ensure that yours, you can take and go with it and ours be protected that is why we took that decision" he added.

Bowen expressed confidence that the farm will not go to ruin since government expects the facility to be better utilised and rebuilt to even higher standards when it is taken over by the Mission from Mainland China.