Was B.S.C.F.A. Justified in Raising Alarm on Contentious Clause?

Dean Barrow

PM Barrow says that in the face of what was happening on the ground, backed up by the Memorandum of Understanding, the new wording introduced by B.S.I. completely bypassed what was in effect the accepted protocol. So in that regard, said the Prime Minister, the B.S.C.F.A.’s alarm and hesitation in signing the agreement was quite proper, as is their demand to structure the “rejection criteria” along the lines of that already in place.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“What the farmers contend is if there is a need to put more flesh on the bone…if there is a need to develop further criteria that’s fine, except those criteria would need to be agreed between the three parties – B.S.C.F.A., B.S.I. and the SCPC which the government chairs, so in effect government. It strikes me that that is altogether reasonable and I have so said to Mr. Montalvo. I gave him the form of words that it appears would satisfy the farmers, the two lawyers – his lawyer Michael Young and Chris Coye were to ensure that they were on the same page where that was concerned and of course Mr. Montalvo needed to get the authorization naturally from his principals to proceed. At ten o’clock he said to me that he hoped to have a definitive answer for me by noon today. If, as I hope, that answer is yes, I’ve asked the Deputy to communicate to the farmers or to Mr. Cansino, the Chairman of the Management Committee that this is where we are and if we get a positive answer by noon hopefully the Directors can meet later this afternoon, agree to sign off since they would have gotten the language they are demanding…and hopefully thereafter we can have a crop possibly at the start of next week if not sooner.”