Govt, Opposition, unions meet to discuss future of sugar industry

After months of reiterated calls for engagement, several Government ministers met with the Parliamentary Opposition, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), on Saturday to discuss the way forward for the sugar industry.
The consultations which were held at the Agriculture Ministry, and saw GuySuCo putting forward proposals, and Government through an issued statement late Saturday, stated that it encouraged the Opposition, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the Unions to make their “own recommendations” after perusing the documents.
The Ministry of the Presidency release noted that, after the documents have been perused, a suitable date and time for the next meeting will be determined. The statement quoted Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan as saying that it was at the last sitting of Cabinet that it was decided, to “have the consultations begin at the soonest possible time.”
State Minister, Joseph Harmon, stressed that the sugar industry is one of national significance and reasoned that decisions that are made must take cognizance of this fact.
Meanwhile, Opposition member, Clement Rohee “expressed thanks to the Government” for the invitation to engage in the consultations and noted that the livelihood of thousands of Guyanese will be affected by any outcome. According to a statement, GAWU president Komal Chand noted that the union and its members are “satisfied” that the Government agreed to host the consultations.
“We were assured by the Government delegation that what they have are mere proposals and the proposals are for discussions and it is not a case where decisions are made and we are going through an exercise and that is satisfactory to us. We recognise that consultations have taken place and we take fact that the proposals are not final. That is acceptable to us,” Chand expressed.
Head of NAACIE, Kenneth Joseph, noted that the discussions were “appreciated”.
The Government team was led by Minister Ramjattan and it included the Minister of State, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder, Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin and Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma.
Apart from the PPP’s General Secretary, others of the Opposition included Irfaan Ali, Dharamkumar Seeraj and Juan Edghill. Additionally representatives from the various sugar estates, including soon-to-be defunct factory at Wales, Albion, Skeldon, Enmore, and Uitvlugt.
It was as late as Friday that Komal Chand at GAWU’s end-of-year address, explained that his union had “no clue” what the Administration intended to discuss at the high level consultations on sugar.
These end-of-year consultations were held on the very day that sugar operations at Wales ceased, which was Saturday (December 31).
Speaking on Thursday, GuySuCo’s Finance Director, Paul Bhim, had explained that some 100 of 1000 workers were identified for the conversion plans and noted that ploughing of land and husbandry practices – weeding and cleaning of canals were being done. Bhim had also shut down claims of weed overgrowth at lands prepared by the sugar corporation but Komal Chand acting on reports he received, noted that only 35 out of 480 acres, were levelled off.
The Wales Sugar Estate is the oldest of the country’s estates and the shutting down of sugar operations were only confirmed after the story broke in a Guyana Times report last year January. The closure has affected over 1000 workers directly and thousands more in the Wales area and surrounding communities.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo met with the workers and their families on Wednesday last. At that meeting, the workers expressed frustration about the uncertainly of how their future will unfold, while calling for subsidy for water and electricity to ease their burden as a result of the closure of the factory.