… sugar workers down
When it comes to sugar in Guyana, the calamity never lets up. But what can you expect when the the PNC-led government sugar policies have nothing to do with economic rationality or efficiency and everything to do with political spite and vindictiveness: cut the leg from under the PPP. By whatever means necessary! And what better way to do this than destroy the entire sugar industry – and with it, the livelihood of 15,000 workers from Guysuco and another 5000 from private cane farming??
5000 of the former and 2000 of the latter have already been thrown into the streets and from the news oozing out in dribs and drabs, the end is nigh for the remainder. Imagine the PNC telling us that they couldn’t sustain the “subsidies” to keep Guysuco going any longer, so the 4 factories had to be shuttered. But yet they secured $30Billion on the bond market to “diversity” the remaining three estates – after rejecting their COI’s recommendation to “fix up” the entire entity and put it up for sale.
So here it is, mout’ open and story jump out: $7B of the bond money has already been disbursed from the $30M – but ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CAN BE SHOWN FOR IT!! And this is on top of the $1.6 billion that’s already paid out in taxes and another $800Million due in November!! What the heck is going on??!! The sad truth is the PNC still can’t even run a cake shop forty years after they completely wrecked our economy and are steadfast in their determination to give it another shot, th even though its certain we’ll end up in the same pickle again!
After your Eyewitness exposed their game, one of their paid apologists tried to rebut his argument in the Chronic. And imagine at that time your Eyewitness was only highlighting the interest costs on the bond and hadn’t known about the $7Billion thrown into the black hole of ineptitude! C’mon! Can there be any reason than spite to spend more on 3 estates with nothing to show for it, when all seven estates could’ve been refurbished and on the blocks by now?
Now the moment your Eyewitness made the point that nothing was heard about the bids for the estates – there’s an announcement that a “consortium” of Guyanese-Indian-Ghanaian investors are interested!! The govt can’t release the names of the investors or give any info on their experience and financial standing – but they’re INTERESTED!! Now if you believe any of that, your Eyewitness has a bridge to sell to you!!
Even as the Govt spokesperson said it’s “back to the drawing board”!!
…the crime data
Obviously stung by the wave of indignation over the upsurge in crimes across the country, the Commissioner of Police (CoP) summoned a press conference to announce that the US State Department are a bunch of alarmists – and wailing Jeremiahs at that! Well, he couldn’t come out as bluntly as that, could he? But what else could he mean when the Americans had issued a warning to their visiting citizens to be careful of the said crime wave while in Guyana, and he insisted that crime had actually DECREASED!!
And yes, dear reader, he didn’t look like he’s been smoking anything that was left over from the Buju Banton Concert!! What he was doing, of course, was following the cue from his Public Security Minister and the Presidential Spokesperson, who insisted that Guyana was “safe”!! Having no answer to what they’d promised to “wipe out” while in Opposition, the PNC-led government has evidently chosen a new course.
If they keep saying that there’s no crime long and often enough, it’ll go away!!
…UG Students
Meanwhile, the UG soap opera does provide entertainment for a bemused populace. The hand-appointed rep of the TUC on the UG Council defended himself against changes that he favoured the VC and not the UG Unions,
He explained he voted for a new SUV for VC because previous one was “depreciated”!!
