Dear Editor,
It is quite obvious that the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA) is not interested in any agreement with the Government on the tax on imported refined sugar. They want to have their cake and eat it too by conducting business as usual.
I am urging the Government and the minister of agriculture to stand firm. It was reported in a recent publication that the country has a new refined sugar retailer. What the country really needs is a state-of-the-art sugar refinery. The advantages of such a refinery are well-documented.
The previous Government practically gave away the country's sugar assets to the Chinese who promised to build such a refinery, but haven't done so. It is ironic that the Chinese are eager and willing to build a coal-fired plant on the island but unwilling to build a sugar refinery.
At any rate, Jamaica shouldn't depend on any one person or group for its development. Why can't great Jamaican companies, such as GraceKennedy, Seprod and Lascelles come together and build a refinery? Why not get the Diaspora involved, including myself? We would like to invest in our country as well, but in a meaningful way, and this project would be ideal.
The question the country should be asking the JMA is where is all that unlabelled refined sugar in the supermarkets and elsewhere come from?
The only thing that the Government should have done differently, in my view, would have been to call in the JMA beforehand and tell them that they are going to impose the tax on refined sugar for obvious reasons. They deserve that respect.
Noel Mitchell
Westchester, New York
nlmworld@yahoo.com
It is quite obvious that the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA) is not interested in any agreement with the Government on the tax on imported refined sugar. They want to have their cake and eat it too by conducting business as usual.
I am urging the Government and the minister of agriculture to stand firm. It was reported in a recent publication that the country has a new refined sugar retailer. What the country really needs is a state-of-the-art sugar refinery. The advantages of such a refinery are well-documented.
The previous Government practically gave away the country's sugar assets to the Chinese who promised to build such a refinery, but haven't done so. It is ironic that the Chinese are eager and willing to build a coal-fired plant on the island but unwilling to build a sugar refinery.
At any rate, Jamaica shouldn't depend on any one person or group for its development. Why can't great Jamaican companies, such as GraceKennedy, Seprod and Lascelles come together and build a refinery? Why not get the Diaspora involved, including myself? We would like to invest in our country as well, but in a meaningful way, and this project would be ideal.
The question the country should be asking the JMA is where is all that unlabelled refined sugar in the supermarkets and elsewhere come from?
The only thing that the Government should have done differently, in my view, would have been to call in the JMA beforehand and tell them that they are going to impose the tax on refined sugar for obvious reasons. They deserve that respect.
Noel Mitchell
Westchester, New York
nlmworld@yahoo.com