Dear Editor,
In my letter to the print media on Feb. 25th, 2017, I committed to provide this nation with fact-based details and analyses on the sugar industry, despite the excruciating pain it inflicts on GuySuCo’s IMC and its massive salaries for the top boys.
Editor, I will demonstrate once again the deceptive tactics employed by GuySuCo to achieve its shut-down and sell-out goals. It is now public knowledge that GuySuCo’s CEO proposes divestment for the Skeldon Estate, a process projected to deliver 1.6 billion dollars to GuySuCo’s coffers and reduce Govt.’s overall subsidy for 2017. The Corporation is also pellucid that it does not have resources to maintain that Estate. Govt. has latched on to these positions, and is pursuing divestment relentlessly. 
We now come to GuySuCo’s belated announcement of the abandonment of the 1st crop for 2017 at Skeldon, citing two unsafe boilers as the reason. In that announcement, GuySuCo shifted focus to Skeldon Energy Inc (SEI), and explained that the company is making “every effort” to operationalize the two co-generation units in late August 2017, giving an impression that Skeldon will operate in the 2nd crop of 2017.
In condensing these pieces of information on Skeldon, we have (1) a keen interest to divest; (2) no resources to sustain operations; and (3) dependence on SEI to fix the co-generation plants. From this position, the obvious questions that come to any logical mind are:
(1) Assuming that SEI fixes the co-generation plant by August 2017, will GuySuCo operate Skeldon in the 2nd crop of 2017? The Corporation has already stated that it does not have the resources to so do.
(2) What is the present status of repair works on the co-generation plant?
If repair work is not in progress at this moment, it is clear that there is no urgency to complete such works by August 2017. Any major boiler repair – such as replacing generating and superheating tubes, effecting repairs to air-heaters and economizers – is time consuming. My fellow citizens ought to brace themselves to receive another stunning announcement – on the cancellation of operations for the 2nd crop of 2017. If this materializes, GuySuCo would have effectively ended operations at Skeldon using safety and SEI as scapegoats. The IMC and its millstone team would have classically deceived this nation to achieve its goal of increasing unemployment in this country, and thereby pave the way for selling this most prized estate in Guyana at a basement price.
Yours truly
Sookram Persaud
