National Assembly to debate future of sugar industry

By Alexis Rodney

A draft ‘white paper’ on the Future of the Sugar Industry is set to be laid in the National Assembly on May 8, 2017; and while its contents have not been discussed extensively, pronouncements by President David Granger regarding his administration’s plans to close several sugar estates are therein entailed.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon, reporting on discussions coming out of Cabinet meeting earlier this week, said Government and the Opposition will debate the content of the ‘white paper’, which was submitted to Cabinet by Agriculture Minister Noel Holder.

“This follows a process we had gone through with respect to the situation at GuySuCo. First, there was a Commission of Inquiry on GuySuCo. Subsequently, a special team was put together to look at some options for GuySuCo,” he said. Following this, some options were provided to Government, and it was decided at Cabinet that consultations be held before any decision is made by the administration.

Harmon said, however, that during a stakeholder consultation, Government laid bare its position on the GuySuCo matter. Stakeholders at that meeting included Government, the Opposition, and representatives of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees, along with sugar workers.

“So several meetings were held at the Ministry of Agriculture, and as a result of those consultations, Government’s position became a little more crystallised,” he explained.

He said Government had also opened the floor for additional proposals for the sugar corporation, and GAWU had submitted some proposals, which he noted have been included in the draft white paper.

Harmon said three important issues have been highlighted and will be dealt with: the financial and technical evidence proving that it is feasible to amalgamate some estates and factories; the need and requirement for divestment of these facilities; and the utilisation of some of the facilities of the estates. He added that the President has already addressed some of these issues.

GAWU said on Tuesday that it would cripple planned efforts to close the East Demerara Estate (Enmore Estate) in the name of restructuring. GAWU President, Komal Chand, told Guyana Times on Monday that the union was in the process of amassing workers to take to the streets in massive protests against the move.

Chand said that while Government has proposed closing the estate, it did not clearly state if it would go ahead with those plans. However, GAWU members are of the opinion that the estate will be closed.

“The information we are getting from the ground is that this will be a reality, because already they are not doing a lot of important work to have the estate functional next year,” Chand explained.

The top GAWU official, who met with sugar workers last Friday, told Guyana Times that members were nervous about their future and about securing alternative employment.

While the GAW has been engaged in some level of protests over the past week, particularly in Enmore, Chand said the numbers are likely to grow in coming weeks and months.

“They (sugar workers) hope that they will draw support from the residents and others with the view to build a strong protest, because that might be one of the ways to get Government to rethink its position,” he explained.

Chand opined that if the protest attracted enormous crowds, like the protests regarding the parking meter project in Georgetown, it would send a strong message to the coalition Government.

He also pointed to the situation in French Guiana, where citizens came out in large numbers to protest high unemployment, crime, high cost of living, and a lack of investment from France.

While the Government has promised to present a white paper on the sugar industry to Parliament, Chand believes it is deliberately delaying, so that the issue would be debated by the end of 2017.

“The Government is trying not to bring the official position to the public, and one of the reasons is because they want the matter brought by yearend,” he told this publication.

As it stands, there is much resentment in the sugar belt, and workers are highly demotivated because much uncertainty surrounds their future, Chand said.

“They have not received any increases for the past two years. The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is now complaining about poor turnout. They are so demotivated,” he added.

GuySuCo has long complained that poor labour turnout has contributed to reduced sugar production.

The industry is facing its toughest times, with production at just over 180,000 tonnes last year. This is the lowest production GuySuCo has recorded since 1990.