GuySuCo still to pronounce on flying knives incident after close to 7 months

Sabotage or mechanical failure?

This March will mark seven months since some $18 million worth of sugarcane produce at the Uitvlugt Estate, West Coast Demerara (WCD), was left to spoil after the turbine malfunctioned and sent 70 knives flying.
Though some of the produce was saved, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is yet to make public its preliminary findings on the probe that was launched last year. Moreover, it has not confirmed if any actions were or will be taken as a consequence of the mishap.
In late January, GuySuCo’s Corporate Communications Manager Audreyanna Thomas told another section of the press that the investigation was at the “disciplinary hearing stage”.
However, that was more than one month ago and to date, no official word has been disclosed on the multimillion-dollar incident. Nevertheless, Thomas had indicated that the extended time was being facilitated so that the parties involved could have a fair hearing.
It was in August 2018 that the knives, which are made out of carbon steel and weigh 20lbs each, went flying and caused workers to dart for their safety.
GuySuCo revealed later in that month that it had launched its investigation by senior management to probe the spoilage and also to understand how the mishap occurred.
Guyana Times has been following the story since it broke and it was unearthed that management was considering “negligence”.
Although official word was never given to solidify this revelation, GuySuCo never denied that this was the case.
In October of last year, this newspaper was reliably informed that two managers were sent on leave in the wake of the probe. Again, the sugar corporation did not respond to this disclosure.
It was reported in the media that workers had started up the number two turbine at about 09:30h and a section called the “governor” was reportedly not maintained properly in the out of crop period.

The turbine has 70 knives on the sharp which spins to shred the canes, and on the day of the mishap, when workers had started the machines, it overspun and the knives flew out several feet away, which had forced several workers to dart for safety and take cover.
Estate Manager, Yudhisthira Mana, had not publicly disclosed the full cost to repair the shredder machine, which was reportedly in the millions.
Guyana Times reported last year that the number two turbine was completely damaged, and it had to be replaced with a turbine from the defunct La Bonne Intention Estate (LBI). The original sharp from the Uitvlugt Estate has also been completely damaged in last year’s mishap.
The Uitvlugt Estate is the lone Demerara estate, with Wales and East Demerara having been shuttered in 2016 and 2017 respectively.