Bitter Betrayal – How APNU/AFC engineered the collapse of Guyana’s sugar industry

Dear Editor,
In a move that history may well remember as one of Guyana’s most devastating policy failures, the APNU+AFC government presided over the near-collapse of the country’s sugar industry, once the lifeblood of our economy and a proud symbol of national identity.
Between 2015 and 2020, the coalition government made a series of reckless, short-sighted, politically-driven decisions that shattered thousands of lives and brought an entire sector to its knees. This wasn’t misfortune, it was mismanagement of the highest order. Let’s talk a bit about the mass layoffs, one of the many “cold and calculated” moves made by APNU.
It was under the guise of “restructuring” that APNU+AFC shuttered four major sugar estates: Wales, Enmore, Rose Hall, and Skeldon. The result? Over 7,000 sugar workers were thrown on the breadline, and communities that had revolved around the sugar belt for generations were decimated almost overnight.
And it didn’t stop at workers. These closures impacted an estimated 28,000 people when you include the families, local businesses, and service providers who depended on sugar estates for their livelihood.
Towns were turned into ghost villages, and hope was turned into hunger. Severance payments were delayed, and promises of retraining and new opportunities were empty words. Former employees marched, protested, and pleaded, but were met with silence or spin.
Which brings me to my next point. By 2015, sugar production was already struggling, but there was still a chance to turn things around; instead, APNU+AFC accelerated the decline. In just four years, output crashed from 231,000 tonnes in 2015 to a humiliating 92,000 tonnes in 2019: a catastrophic 60% decline.
So what is different this time around? Ask yourselves if the new punchline of reviving the sugar industry by the present Opposition is really genuine, or is another political ploy to toy with the people of this nation.
You could not have missed when sugar exports, which were a dependable source of foreign exchange, shrivelled. Revenue from sugar plunged from US$123 million in 2011 to just US$27.7 million in 2019. The message to the international market was clear: Guyana had given up on sugar.
GuySuCo, the state-owned sugar corporation, didn’t just fail; it was gutted. In a damning revelation by the GuySuCo CEO, it was made known that the value of the company’s field and factory equipment collapsed by G$43 billion – from G$62 billion in 2016 to G$19 billion by 2019. Machinery rusted and canals were clogged even as infrastructure crumbled. Where was the interest then?
A G$30 billion bond was raised supposedly to revive sugar; yet, to this day, Guyanese are still asking, “Where did the money go?” It did not go to the workers. It did not go to the fields. It did not go to the future.
A government Commission of Inquiry even warned against mass closures, calling instead for phased restructuring and community protection. APNU+AFC ignored the call and chose a slash-and-burn approach, literally abandoning communities to fend for themselves.
And what happened to the assets of closed estates? They were sold off with minimal transparency. Some were leased and some were sold, but many were left idle, with no strategic diversification plan or meaningful attempt to reintegrate workers.
It begs the question, was this political vengeance? What is different this time around? The same visionless individuals are today sitting in the Opposition, making promises to you as the elections draw near.
It’s no secret that sugar workers largely reside in PPP/C strongholds. The APNU+AFC’s decisions seemed less about economics and more about punishing a voting bloc. What else explains the brutal precision with which sugar belt communities were targeted, stripped of income, and silenced?
This wasn’t just poor governance; this was political vindictiveness with real-world casualties. The verdict? The then Government failed the people, and will fail the people again if allowed the opportunity.
We cannot gamble with the future of this country. The sugar industry did not die a natural death; it was sabotaged, methodically, carelessly, and with devastating consequences. APNU+AFC’s tenure will be remembered, not for reform, but for betrayal – betrayal of the working class, of rural communities, and of the national economy.
As the current administration forges ahead to revive the sector, the wreckage left behind serves as a painful reminder that when governments turn their backs on their people. It’s the people who bleed, and the APNU/AFC government then did just that.

Sincerely,
Compton Reid
A Guyanese Citizen