THE National Farmers Union has labelled the Rarawai Penang Cane Producers Association’s recent elections a “sham”.
General secretary and former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said the association was not a democratic institution and the elections did not truly reflect the will of all the growers.
“The media has reported that the 7000 growers went to the polls, however, the reality is that their gang delegates were the ones that voted,” he said.
“And whether the gang delegates vote actually reflected the actual will of the farmers they claim to represent cannot effectively be ascertained or measured.
“So we view this election as un-democratic in nature and the involvement of the Fiji Sugar Corporation as the returning officer also asks questions of the integrity of the vote.”
FSC executive chairman Abdul Khan said the NFU was entitled to its opinion.
“We just wanted to do the right thing by the farmers and hence this assistance was critical to get the Rarawai Penang Cane Producers Association certified with Fair Trade,” he said.
Rarawai Penang Cane Producers Association interim president Girish Kumar said as an industry leader, Mr Chaudhry should know better than to make negative comments in the media.
“If he was concerned about the growers of Ba, Tavua and Rakiraki then he should have come forward and offered assistance,” Mr Kumar said.
“As far as we are concerned, we followed our constitution rules by involving the FSC and the successful manner in which the elections turned out is a testament to our members’ confidence in the whole process.”
