Left hand isn’t aware of what right hand is doing

Dear Editor,
On reading the articles in the December 6 editions of sections of the media about sugar workers being fired and rift in Government over GuySuCo’s layoffs, it seems like the Government’s arm of management, Cabinet, is playing Christmas pantomime with the lives of hundreds of sugar workers.
One section of the media reported the Agriculture Minister as saying “he was not surprised at the decision of GuySuCo to issue redundancy letters to the Rose Hall workers” and the Minister of State as saying “the handing out of redundancy letters by GuySuCo to Rose Hall workers has made at least his faction of the Government – the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – nervous”, and “that this is something that at least could have come to the Cabinet and give us some notification before time”.
Another section reported the Minister of State as saying “Just like the citizens of this country, I read of it in the newspapers and I myself was a bit surprised that a major decision like that would not have come to Cabinet”.
This is unbelievable! Imagine hundreds of sugar workers have been given letters that brought their employment to an end and one of the most senior Ministers of this Government would only know of it on reading the newspapers like the ordinary citizens of this country. You can’t be serious Sir.Cabinet, the core of management for the Government, in this matter shows that its function lacks coordination. From the reports in the press, it is obvious that the Agriculture Minister is the only one from Cabinet who is aware that hundreds of sugar workers have been given marching orders. The active working population in this country is not that huge that when hundreds of workers are being displaced, it goes oblivious to the Government. Something has to be terribly wrong with the chain of command and the communication feedback mechanism that goes with it.
A simple shake-up in the stores on Regent Street is known by the average man and woman on the streets throughout this country; so it’s unbelievable that almost 2500 workers have been sacked in the sugar industry and Cabinet is saying that it was not aware. The people of this country deal with a Government, not two factions of government – AFC and APNU; so it matters not if AFC is aware of the redundancy and APNU isn’t. It’s a case of left hand isn’t aware of what right hand is doing on the same body.
The laying off of 7000 workers of the various categories will bear a humongous cost to the industry on payment of redundancy allowances. Conservatively, it would cost approximately $4.0 billion, and of immediate those at Skeldon and Rose Hall will cost $1.5 billion. Who will fund this cost – Government or GuySuCo? Or is the company expecting the displaced sugar workers to keep their severance cheques as souvenirs for their service?
Interestingly, the Agriculture Minister is quoted at his budget debate speech that the current cane yield of 55 tonnes per hectare and will increase to 78.43 in 2018, an increase of 43 per cent. It would be interesting to know what interventions will be employed to reverse this trend to such massive turnaround. The nation therefore looks forward to this promise. Let’s hope that this is not another false projection by the company, as in the past years it was never even remotely near to any of its estimates.
Yours faithfully,
Selwyn Narinedatt