Prof Prasad tells Minister not to mislead parliament

SUGARCANE and sugar production dropped by about 50 per cent under the leadership of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

This was the message from National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad to Lands Minister Ashneel Sudhakar in the Parliament yesterday.

“Please do not mislead Parliament in the manner that you did yesterday by saying the rot in the sugar industry started after the 1987 coup when growers were chased and leases were taken over in Wainikoro, Labasa — in obvious reference to the Leader of the Opposition (Sitiveni Rabuka) and the first coup of 1987,” said Prof Prasad.

“If you are indeed right — please explain how did the number of growers was maintained at over 23,000, seven years after the 1987 coup and how did we produce 517,000 tonnes of sugar in 1994 — a record that will never be broken.

“So do not come to Parliament and tell lies that this happened all over the country — and that only under your leader the honourable PM land is freely available when statistics clearly show under his 13 years of leadership sugarcane and sugar production has massively dropped by almost 50 per cent compared to 2006.”