Rigo villagers looking for their ‘missing’ MP

By BOSORINA ROBBY
HAVE you seen my Member Ano Pala? If you do, can you please tell him to come to Rigo to see his people, Rigo villagers asked last week.
They made the query at the Launakalana Estate in Central.
The villagers, led by spokesman Vavine Tau, said they had not seen their elected member for a long time and that was evident in the lack of basic services they needed such as good roads.
He said when they did see him it was usually to give out money for sporting events.
Tau said Pala always travelled there by helicopter to avoid the bad roads.
The villagers had attended the launch of Cashews International Ltd’s (CIL) Cashew Outgrowers programme that would see villagers become part of the production of cashew nuts for the world market.
Tau said since CIL came to their area in 2008, they had seen the potential value of cashew nuts and fully embraced the programme.
“For 50 years, the Department of Agriculture and Livestock through its Livestock Development Corp, ran projects on this land,” he said.
“Despite those many years, we are still living like before.
“We have not seen any tangible developments in our villages.
“But now that CIL is here, we see that we will receive big benefits from this so I now call on the DAL and LDC to park aside and let CIL take over,” he says.
Launakalana Estate, which is communally owned by the surrounding villages, was first used as a cattle project by the LDC, but that has long since fallen into disuse.
Tau said the only obstacle to outgrowers wanting to plant plenty trees was that most of the customary land was enclosed within the estate’s fences.
“So I now call on the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock and his department to sort this issue out so that we can plant our cashew trees.
“I call on my MP to come and support this programme as it does not receive any support from the government.
“Pala can start by providing us with two tractors and a truck for us to use come harvest time.
“It is not much but that’s all we ask because we know that the cashews is good for us,” he said.