Dear Editor,
I am a firm believer in presenting facts in my letters and my conclusions are based on facts rather than fiction and Quixotic rantings. I have seen how easy it is for a person to write a letter to the press on happenings that never existed at events, malign peoples’ character, and expect people who were not present to believe their deliberate lies, since only a few present will know the truth.
I am writing in response to another letter captioned, “Aren’t sugar workers allowed to provide political support as they see fit?” in the Kaieteur News dated June 11, 2022. Yes, every citizen is entitled to support whichever political party they so choose but they must not be misled or deceived in doing so. Unfortunately, the basis of this letter is not grounded on incidents that he claimed occurred.
On June 3, 2022, the Vice President met with residents of Hampshire, the meeting was held in the Hampshire South area and was fairly well-attended. The residents raised issues of garbage, drains, street lights, and flood relief but at no point in time did anyone raise any issues relating to conditions at GuySuCo, more specifically wages and salaries. I visited the area and met with some of the residents who attended that meeting and were totally shocked when I showed them a letter written by one Surendra Drepaul but not only did they refute the accusations he cast upon Vice President Jagdeo but they do not know any former employee and GAWU member by that name.
One showed me a video of the said meeting and was shocked by the claims the letter writer made. I even spoke to the GAWU’S Field Secretary at Albion Estate and he cannot recall any person by that name. This man is a phantom it appears and what he wrote about is sheer fantasy and a figment of his warped imaginations. The media was there and surely the journalists present would have reported such issues. But the pertinent question is: Why did ‘Surendra Drepaul’ not engage the Vice President there and then and probably make a video as evidence? This is the cell phone age. In addition, his letter is devoid of any specific question posed by sugar workers and which is not compatible when someone is reporting what he witnessed or was part of. He could not have done so because the incidents he mentioned never happened. Undoubtedly, it is apparent that the few AFC mischief-makers are beginning to wriggle out of the woodwork.
‘Drepaul’ could not resist using the usual modus operandi of the AFC and the APNU of attacking the Vice President since they cannot match his sharp intellect and par excellence statesmanship. The VC is definitely a threat to their existence and has effectively disrupted their bid to rig the 2020 elections. Imagine this phantom accused the Vice President of spreading “lies” and “stooping to such lows”. I did not respond to this in my previous letter because I knew that Jagdeo will never make such statements for he is above that and that was the reason why I dealt with what the PPP/C Government has done to keep sugar from the guillotine as I did not see any mention of this in the phantom’s letter.
I am reiterating that sugar workers must not be misled again as they did in 2015 when the coalition promised 20 per cent wages increase and not to close any sugar estate. It is my sacred and patriotic duty as the son of a cane cutter and a former cane cutter myself to advise my colleagues against forgetting what the PPP has done for them and the country as a whole. From 2020 to now, the Government has pumped $15.5 billion into GuySuCo to ensure not only that it survives but that it becomes viable once again. In my letter, I simply focused on the statement he made that “losing the support of sugar workers may be permanent next time”. I am sure that the parents of this writer would have taught him not only to “never curse the bridge” but also to speak the truth at all times. Let me advise him that that bridge is the PPP and some ill-informed sugar workers must never curse it.
‘Drepaul’ tried a low blow to attack me personally but he should have followed all the letters I have written and TV programmes that I hosted and he would have realised that since the AFC colluded with the PNC to make this country ungovernable and to stymie socio-economic development after the 2011 General Elections, I have relentlessly fought the AFC and I am gratified that I have won my war against them and will continue to do so to ensure that the AFC stays as ‘dead meat’.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf