Granger must account for $333M spent daily while pussy-footing on GuySuCo – GAWU

…as Union questions whether caretaker Govt let industry collapse

The caretaker David Granger regime has turned its back on the sugar belt and, from all appearances, is prepared to drive a large section of Guyanese into poverty, leaving the industry’s workers’ representatives to question where the Administration spent a whopping $333 million on a daily basis over the past month.
This was the supposition by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) on Thursday, in responding to the Finance Ministry’s adumbration that the Treasury was presently incapable of providing financial support to the sugar industry.

GAWU has since accused the Administration of “pussyfooting” around on the request that was made by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for financial support since the middle of last month – May 15, 2020.

“This unwarranted delay in addressing

GuySuCo’s survival plea brings into focus the level of importance Government places on the sugar sector. In fact, this type of action

contradicts the grand statements often made by Government officials about its commitment to reorganising and reforming the sugar sector,” GAWU said.
It was pointed out that while the Finance Ministry in a statement on

Wednesday “seems to admit that the Treasury is empty and the country is bankrupt”, the

Corporation’s written “request and plea did not attract the President’s attention until a copy of the correspondence found its way into public eye”.
The Ministry’s statement followed a reported engagement between de facto President David Granger and his Ministers of Finance and Agriculture and coincided with a report by Guyana Times which highlighted the state of affairs in the sugar industry.
GAWU on Thursday noted that GuySuCo wrote President Granger since mid-May, informing him of the Corporation’s financial state and a need for urgent support, and that Finance Minister Winston Jordan and Agriculture Minister Noel Holder had also received copies of the letter.
GAWU has since iterated that the action or inaction on the part of the Administration “raises the question whether the caretaker Government had any intention to address the issue or whether it was prepared to allow the industry to close its doors under the cover of election noise”.
The Union, in a public missive on Thursday, lamented “it is almost unimaginable that a Government would aid and abet such a situation which has enormous social consequences”.
The Finance Ministry, in its statement pointing out its inability to provide financial support to the industry, had explained that the COVID-19 situation and reduced national income were making it prohibitive to assist GuySuCo.
The Union has since used the occasion to juxtapose and point out that “this explanation is given at a time when overdraft in the public bank account skyrocketed by $10 billion in the month of April alone, which is approximately $333 million per day”.
As such, GAWU, in its missive, said: “we, like many Guyanese, must ask: where did this money go? Certainly, it did not reach the hands of thousands of Guyanese who need the State’s help at this time. We believe the use of the large sum may be an interesting story in itself.”
The Union used the occasion to also remind that President Granger committed a year ago that he would ensure that monies were released to the sugar industry –monies secured under a $30 billion bond backed by Government assets.
This promise failed, and according to GAWU, “the industry lost one year of investments for its reorienting and reorganising programmes”.
As such, it contends, “dithering by the Administration has extracted a significant opportunity cost from the industry” .
According to GAWU, the decision by the Granger Government, “in our view, does not serve to meaningfully address the concerns raised by the GuySuCo Chairman in his correspondence”.
In fact, the Union contends “that it is no more than a tangible demonstration of the coalition’s unsympathetic regard for the sugar industry and the thousands of Guyanese who depend on it for a livelihood”.
GAWU continued, “the Administration’s disdain for the sector is well-established and documented. It is an ignominious period for an industry that literally caused the formation of, and built Guyana.”