─ Minister Mustapha tells Queenstown, Essequibo residents
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha has expressed pride in being part of a government that has time and again brought benefits to Guyanese across the country.
Delivering his feature address at the 181st anniversary of the Queenstown village on the Essequibo Coast (Region Two), the minister touched on a ‘cheap shot’ made by a Member of Parliament (MP), attempting to discredit the work of the PPP/C Government.
“I don’t want to bring politics here today, but I heard my colleague, my fellow MP who made a cheap shot just now, about what our government is doing, and I could have made a list of issues [regarding] what the previous government had done. They were in office for 5 years, what have they done for the community of Queenstown?” he questioned.
The minister highlighted that the current administration has restored cash grants to school children, which were removed under the previous administration.
“Today we are seeing every child that attended school this year receive 30,000 from the Government of Guyana. And that will increase to 50,000 in another two years,” Minister Mustapha said.
He pointed to the numerous farmers in the village who have received flood relief during the devastating flood of 2021, and the government’s removal of Value Added Tax- VAT and other taxes in major sectors.
This includes the removal of VAT from electricity and water, two basic commodities.
The minister further underlined the longstanding importance of agriculture to the government, a sector which, among others, was neglected by the former administration.
“Since 1973, since the formation of CARICOM, Guyana had a proud history of leading the agriculture sector. When I became Minister of Agriculture, that position was ceded to St Vincent and the Grenadines. They were leading agriculture in CARICOM. Today, after two years, we have once again taken that position, and we are now leading the agenda for CARICOM in the agriculture sector,” he noted.
Minister Mustapha assured residents that once again, the government understands the importance of the agriculture sector, and will work with Queenstown to help develop the community.
