by Linda Straker
- Grenada Marketing and National Importing Board established in 1973
- 70 workers will be unemployed as of 28 February
- Until new entity established, MNIB will have monopoly on importing refined sugar
By September 2023, the entity, which since 1973 was known as the Grenada Marketing and National Importing Board (MNIB), will no longer exist. The Dickon Mitchell administration has decided to wind down its operations and repeal the law that created this state-owned enterprise.
“We did not come to this decision lightly, I certainly do not for any second enjoy the fact that we have to get to a point… where we have to be severing staff, but the reality is, this situation was created by others who had the opportunity to correct it, chose not to do so and are now pontificating… about possible solutions,” Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said during a news conference on Monday, 13 February 2023.
70 of the 94 workers will become unemployed by the closure of the entity as of 28 February, while the remaining staff will be working at the main packing and distribution outlet. That outlet will be allowed to purchase produce from farmers and sell to the public until the new entity is established. The MNIB will continue to have the monopoly licence to import refined sugar during the waiting period.
In the immediate, the severance package will be a liability of the Government, and the total sum will be EC$2.5 million. The Prime Minister said that the entire financial liability of the statutory body is approximately EC$15 million, and the Government will take it over. He said that his administration had appointed a technical working group whose duty is to assist the Government in finalising the future organisational structure for a new entity, a public-private partnership (PPP).
Since 2014, the Government has developed a PPP Policy which typically only considers projects with a minimum investment value of EC$50 million to a PPP. However, smaller projects may be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Dickon Mitchell administration is yet to develop or establish a new PPP policy.
Established by Act No. 40 of 1973 and having legal amendments in the years through Act No. 69 of 1979; Act No. 17 of 1981; Act No. 30 of 1996; Act No. 1 of 2006, and Act No. 14 of 2008, the legislation provides for the establishment and incorporation of a Marketing and National Importing Board to market produce of Grenada not already marketed under other statutory authority, and for matters connected. A body corporate of the Government, its operations and administration fall under Section 49 of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, Chapter 153.
From 2014 from this report shows that the MNIB have been struggling so what were the previous government doing.
“He said that his administration had appointed a technical working group whose duty is to assist the Government in finalising the future organisational structure for a new entity, a public-private partnership (PPP).
Interesting-very! We wait anxiously to hear who are the members of this technical working group and who are the private partners. Transparency in government is the watchword, no??
And to the new unemployed, good luck.