Bogus leaders in sugar industry must be exposed

Dear Editor,

The Chairman of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Dr Clive Thomas, told the National Assembly’s Economic Services Committee (ESC) that since the entity was saddled with a $77 billion debt and defaulting on all of its repayment obligations, it makes no business sense to keep it going.  

I would like to take this opportunity to debunk these alternate and uninformed positions presented by Dr Thomas. That figure of G$77 billion is nothing but an alternative to the truth. Please permit me, Editor, to prove why GuySuCo’s real debt is around G$32 billion.

FACT 1

Who legally engaged with the international banks to lend the US$220 million to fund the Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project (SSMP)? Did the final approval happen in the GuySuCo Board Room, or did it happen in the Cabinet Room of the Government of Guyana (GoG)?

That decision to legally bind the company to this debt was made by the Cabinet of Guyana under the then PPP Government.  So why are all of these debts for the SSMP Project in the books of GuySuCo and not on the books of the National Debt? Proper Government accounting will clearly advise that the Government, and not GuySuCo, must take responsibility for these Skeldon Factory debts.  Therefore, all G$30 billion of these SSMP-related debts must be delinked from GuySuCo and incorporated into the National Debt.

FACT 2

Who owns GuySuCo? Who owns and controls the GRA, the NIS, the Lands & Surveys Commission (GL&SC), MMA and GNCB?  The GoG, on behalf of the people, controls all of these entities.  Why then this great lethargy and reluctance from the Ministry of Finance to make a genuine attempt at cleaning up the balance sheet of GuySuCo? Saddling the balance sheet of GuySuCo with all these related party debts is just plain ridiculous.

GuySuCo owes some G$10 billion in debts to the GRA, the NIS, the GL&SC, the MMA and the GNCB, which is tantamount to one arm of the Government owing another arm of the Government. Who is the Government really trying to fool?  These debts must, and should, be liquidated and settled by the Central Government with immediate effect.

FACT 3

It is a little-known fact, but the evidence is there that some G$5 billion of the workers’ contributions were misappropriated for a long time, starting from the Raj Singh days. So GuySuCo’s current senior management, including Errol Hanoman, is not made up of innocent souls. PAYE, NIS contribution, pension contribution, SILWIF loan repayments and union dues which were deducted from the pay of the workers were, by and large, diverted from their intended purposes to fund core operations, and particularly the salaries of the management team.  So far more than G$5 billion of the workers’ money have been illegally pumped into the day-to-day operations of GuySuCo as an illegal loan taken by force from the workers.

The workers’ unions, GAWU and NACCIE, should file a legal suit in the court, demanding full reimbursement of those ‘stolen’ funds. This is a national crime.

So, in the final analysis, when any of the doubting Thomases open their mouths and shout that GuySuCo has a debt of G$77 billion or more, you, the workers and the people at large, must publicly reject these half-truths and expose these bogus leaders in the sugar industry.  The leadership of GuySuCo is not interested in fixing the sugar industry, but in working overtime to find an excuse to destroy the sugar belt, to the detriment of the entire nation.

The chickens for this foolish strategy are already coming home to roost: They closed Wales and the exchange rate declined by some G$10 dollars; next to be closed are Rose Hall and Enmore estates.  When that happens, an exchange rate of G$250 to US$1 will be a certainty.

Regards

Sase Singh

M.Sc. – Finance, ACCA