After seven years, Guyana has finally received the long-awaited payment of US$7.5 million, including US$100,000 in legal costs from Panama for rice sold under a deal initiated by the previous coalition government.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, revealed this during his talk show, “Issues in the News,” where he heavily criticized the coalition for its handling of the transaction.
In the 2018, the former government had boasted about securing the Panamanian market for struggling rice farmers and millers but when the US$7.5 million in rice was delivered to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), it was sold on credit to authorities in Panama.
“They took tonnes of rice from the millers and sold it on behalf of the millers to the Panamanian government, and never collected a cent…,” Nandlall stated.
The transaction left millers severely impacted, with many falling into bankruptcy. “The millers were out of pocket from those transactions to the tune of $7.5 million. No appreciable or discernible efforts were made by the coalition government to receive payment of this sum,” Nandlall said, adding that the millers had to bear the full brunt of the consequences.
According to Nandlall, after assuming office, the current administration had to take immediate action to resolve the matter. “When we got into government, we inherited this liability,” he explained. He said efforts were made at the highest levels, including interventions by the President of Guyana himself, but these initially did not yield the desired results.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Guyana Rice Marketing Board retained lawyers and representatives in Panama, but those efforts also proved futile. In 2023, government was eventually forced to file proceedings with the International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Center in Paris, France.
