Damage to sugar sector, thousands of employees cannot be overshadowed – Jagdeo

…points to decline in other sectors

Although the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration continues to spout declarations of developments that it has been responsible for since it took office som

dowed.
This is according to Opposition Leader Bharat Jagdeo, who on Thursday said over 7000 sugar workers have been left without an income since they lost their jobs at the hands of this Government.
“Sugar workers have lost 7000 jobs and people surrounding the sugar industry another 4000 to 5000 jobs. Are the sugar workers better off today? Sugar workers have not received any increase; the remaining workers have not received a single salary increase for all four years; zero per cent, the first time in our history, even under Burnham,” he said.
Jagdeo posited that the APNU/AFC coalition is also responsible for scrapping the Annual Production Incentive (API) programme that rewarded the efforts of sugar workers who met targets and worked above and beyond their call of duty just so they could have more monies to support their families.

Other sectors
But it is not just the sugar workers who suffered the brunt of actions by this Government, Jagdeo said, adding that even the rice farmers are left nursing wounds and trying to keep their heads above water as they struggle to make a living in the rice industry.
“The Government said it opened new markets for rice farmers but have cut $1 billion from drainage and irrigation, increased land charges for rice farmers to significant sums, sometimes by 300 per cent, 400 per cent, land and water rates, they have removed the taxes, put taxes on fertilisers and pesticides and put taxes on the machinery, so that’s it. Are the farmers better off today? The answer is no.”
He also pointed out that in the mining industry, progress for the small miners has been halted, and in many cases non-existent. The Opposition Leader explained that under the People’s Progressive Party Administration, there was a two per cent final tax in place that all small miners had to pay but now the current Administration is bleeding them.
“This Government removed it and increased it to a 28 per cent tax and it is no longer final tax. After the public outcry and we said we will reverse it they brought it down back but moved it on a sliding scale from a two to 3.5 per cent, we made it clear we would go back to two per cent. So the miners have seen a deterioration.”
The Opposition Leader lamented that the laws that are now in place at the behest of the APNU/AFC Administration that targets small miners are making it more difficult for them to succeed in that field. They will encounter difficulties in continuing a job in the mining sector.
“They have passed legislations to say that if the small miners don’t have records when the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) approaches them, they can go to jail now. How many small miners have records in the hinterland of their purchases? Who will give them a receipt if they buy two drums of fuel?”
Jagdeo also noted that the sad state of hinterland roads and the lack of Government spending to repair them is presently a hindrance to miners with regard to transporting their equipment into those communities.
He added that many policies adopted and implemented by the coalition Government have led to the decline in the environment of miners in Guyana and that this trend which commenced some four years ago will be progressively worse in relation to the country’s agricultural resources and development.