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with spin ... no BLATANT LIES regarding the antics of Clarke.
The recent announcement by Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke that his ministry would be renewing efforts to increase cassava cultivation is reason for any Jamaican to be disgusted with our politics.
Here we are in 2013, being told by Minister Clarke that increased cassava production forms part of a thrust to improve the country's food security and, ultimately, reduce our food import bill. This is the same Roger Clarke who, on April 16, 2008, led the heckling of then Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton when he announced plans to increase cassava production in the country.
PNP ABOUT-TURN
According to Dr Tufton then, the Jamaica Labour Party administration intended to plant and process more cassava and, in so doing, reduce the consumption of more expensive imports like rice and flour. Tufton became the butt of jokes and was given several cassava-inspired nicknames.
On April 28, 2008, then Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller gave an interview in which she said she did not "support Tufton's idea of singling out cassava as the primary staple". Five years later, and the administration that she leads is telling the country that increased cassava cultivation is part of the plan to reduce the country's hefty food import bill.
This is but the latest issue which highlights a lack of genuine cooperation between Government and Opposition on proposals which can take the country forward. If Roger Clarke had only seen the wisdom in Tufton's plan in 2008, he may very well not have had to trouble himself with using scarce resources to increase cassava cultivation in 2013. He could have been expending those resources on something else.
What Roger Clarke has done through his lack of vision in this regard is waste his time and taxpayers' money. Perhaps if he, as opposition spokesman then, had thrown his considerable weight behind Tufton's plan, the increase in the cultivation of cassava could've been sustained beyond the period 2010-2011.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure2.html
The recent announcement by Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke that his ministry would be renewing efforts to increase cassava cultivation is reason for any Jamaican to be disgusted with our politics.
Here we are in 2013, being told by Minister Clarke that increased cassava production forms part of a thrust to improve the country's food security and, ultimately, reduce our food import bill. This is the same Roger Clarke who, on April 16, 2008, led the heckling of then Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton when he announced plans to increase cassava production in the country.
PNP ABOUT-TURN
According to Dr Tufton then, the Jamaica Labour Party administration intended to plant and process more cassava and, in so doing, reduce the consumption of more expensive imports like rice and flour. Tufton became the butt of jokes and was given several cassava-inspired nicknames.
On April 28, 2008, then Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller gave an interview in which she said she did not "support Tufton's idea of singling out cassava as the primary staple". Five years later, and the administration that she leads is telling the country that increased cassava cultivation is part of the plan to reduce the country's hefty food import bill.
This is but the latest issue which highlights a lack of genuine cooperation between Government and Opposition on proposals which can take the country forward. If Roger Clarke had only seen the wisdom in Tufton's plan in 2008, he may very well not have had to trouble himself with using scarce resources to increase cassava cultivation in 2013. He could have been expending those resources on something else.
What Roger Clarke has done through his lack of vision in this regard is waste his time and taxpayers' money. Perhaps if he, as opposition spokesman then, had thrown his considerable weight behind Tufton's plan, the increase in the cultivation of cassava could've been sustained beyond the period 2010-2011.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure2.html
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