Opposition Member of Parliament Jone Usamate has criticised the decision to return the Sugar portfolio to Charan Jeath Singh, saying cane farmers cannot afford what he describes as a return to failed leadership and unfulfilled promises.
Usamate said he was concerned that Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka had again handed responsibility for the sugar industry to Singh, months after he was moved from the portfolio.
“It is with great concern that the Prime Minister has once again handed the Sugar portfolio to Hon. Charan Jeath Singh, barely months after he was moved out of it,” Usamate said.
“I believe this decision is a mistake and one that our cane farmers can ill afford.”
Usamate said Singh previously held the Sugar portfolio from December 2022 until January this year but, in his assessment, failed to deliver the meaningful changes promised to farmers.
“In that time, I did not see the meaningful change our farmers were promised. Instead, his tenure was marked by a fractured relationship with growers and industry stakeholders,” he said.
Usamate pointed to the National Farmers Union’s public reaction to Singh’s earlier removal from the portfolio and problems experienced at the Lautoka Mill, including an extended shutdown following a boiler tube leak.
He also questioned progress towards delivering a new modern sugar mill, saying farmers continued to depend on ageing milling infrastructure despite repeated announcements.
“For over a year now, we have heard talk after talk about a new, modern sugar mill for our farmers. Tenders were called, delegations travelled to India, Colombia and beyond and Cabinet ministers made one announcement after another,” Usamate said.
He said farmers were continuing to crush cane using ageing mills despite acknowledgement from the Prime Minister that replacement parts were no longer available for some of the equipment and that the mills had reached the end of their operational life.
“All the travel and all the press conferences under Mr Singh’s watch delivered talk, not tonnes, and not a new mill,” Usamate said.
He questioned what Singh would do differently after returning to the portfolio.
“I ask the Prime Minister: what has changed? What new plan does Mr Singh now bring to the table that he did not already try and fail to deliver in his first three years in the role?”
Usamate said the sugar industry remained critical to the livelihoods of nearly 200,000 people and needed leadership capable of rebuilding confidence among growers and delivering promised reforms.
“Our sugar industry and the nearly 200,000 people who depend on it deserve a Minister who can rebuild trust with farmers and actually deliver the modernisation this industry has been promised for years, not a return to the same fractured relationships and unfulfilled announcements,” he said.
Usamate called on Rabuka to reverse the decision.
“I call on the Prime Minister to reconsider this reappointment and to prioritise the interests of our cane farmers over political convenience,” he said.
