GAWU not convinced Govt wants to debate white paper on sugar

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) is not convinced that Government is keen on debating the white paper on the sugar industry which was presented to the National Assembly during its last sitting.
GAWU President Komal Chand claimed that certain procedures have not been put in place by the Government to have the policy debated. According to him, the paper was not tabled in Parliament, but rather it was read by Agriculture Minister Noel Holder.
“It doesn’t follow a debate on the statement or you can’t respond to the statement by the Minister. Clearly, at this time, it is not likely that it will be placed on the agenda for the next sitting which is June 15,” Chand said.
However, Chand believes that the policy decision taken is of national importance and it ought to be debated by the National Assembly.
“The information contained in that white paper has significant effect on the country, the people and particularly the workers in the industry…,” he added.
The GAWU official also argued that the white paper presents vague information and does not go into specificity of how this matter is going to be dealt with. According to him, Government spokesperson claimed that the Administration has not configured the roll out of this new policy fully.
He therefore questioned, “Will they sell the lands? Will they sell the cogent facilities (massive boilers) which generates surplus in electricity and able to supply electricity to the national grid?”
Chand called on the Government to come clean and provide the public with more specific information on the future of the sugar industry.
He recalled that there were plans back in the 1980s to sell out the sugar industry under the leadership of the late President Desmond Hoyte, who met with the unions and proposed the divestment of the industry.
Chand said the unions disagreed with the then President and they will continue to hold steadfast to this position.
“The white paper is so important to the people and the economy. I said to workers, it is too big not to have the paper not debated. It’s like pulling wool over the eyes of the people,” he lamented.
Government announced plans to close the Enmore and Rose Hall Sugar Estates, sell the Skeldon Sugar Factory, reduce the annual production of sugar, and take on the responsibility of managing the drainage and irrigation services offered by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
These estates are Blairmont on the West Bank of Berbice, Albion-Rose Hall in East Berbice and the Uitvlugt-Wales Estate in West Demerara. The estates will be complete with factories and will have cane supplied from all locations, according to the Minister.
Minister Holder claimed that this process would result in improving the relationship with some cane cutters, estate staff and about 1710 private cane farmers, adding that GuySuCo’s sugar operations will be limited to the Albion-Rose Hall, Blairmont and Uitvlugt-Wales Estates.
The Minister had also revealed plans to cut sugar production to approximately 147,000 tonnes per annum. This, according to him, will satisfy the demand in the local market (25,000 tonnes per annum); Caricom and other regional markets (50,000-60,000 tonnes per annum); the United States (12,500 tonnes per annum) and the world market (50,000 tonnes per annum).
Several members of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) have said that the white paper on the industry confirmed that the industry was being “maliciously downsized” as a prelude for closure.
Former Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, has said that the new policy provided no assurances nor any plans on how three sugar estates – Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt – would remain open.He claimed that the downsizing and subsequent closure of sugar estates would lead to the loss of more than 15,000 jobs and the threat of poverty for 50,000 to 100,000 people.
Recently, former President Donald Ramotar also came out swinging at the Government stating that it is an unwise decision to put the Skeldon Sugar factory up for sale as it has shown some signs of improvement.
Ramotar said the factory made significant improvements in 2015, meeting all its targets. However, he blames the lack of investment on the part of the coalition Government for the decline in recent performance output at the factory.