No sugar missing – GuySuCo rejects Opposition’s claims

…says there was an over-declaration, resulting in dismissal of 2 workers

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has rubbished claims that several hundred tonnes of sugar had gone missing from the Rose Hall Estate by explaining that there was an over-declaration that had led to the dismissal of two senior estate officials, and those dismissals had sparked last week’s protest action.
It was reported by a local newspaper last weekend that over 200 tonnes of sugar had gone missing from the Rose Hall Estate during the last crop, and this had resulted in GuySuCo firing the Production Manager and the Head Laboratory Technician of the estate.
Subsequently, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Vinceroy Jordan had submitted questions through the National Assembly, which is currently in recess, asking Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha to confirm the reports about the missing sugar, and requesting that the minister provide a report on the outcome of the investigation that had led to termination of the two estate officials.
On Wednesday, GuySuCo sought to clear the air on the situation, explaining that the reports of sugar having gone missing at the Rose Hall Estate are false.
“There was no issue of missing sugar,” the sugar company has stated. It further added, “…what had occurred was a major breach in the standard operating procedure for sugar declaration (over a period of time), which resulted in an over-declaration.”

According to the sugar corporation, this over-declaration was what had led to the dismissal of the Production Manager and the Head Lab Technician of the Rose Hall Estate.
Those terminations had sparked controversy last week, as sugar workers at the Rose Hall Estate downed tools on Friday and Saturday in protest of the appointment of a new Production Manager.
Backed by their union, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the striking workers had claimed that the individual put there had served in the position back in 2017, and was reportedly the reason behind the estate having been closed by the former APNU/AFC administration.
“Dem bring a Production Manager from Uitvlugt. He went here in 2017, and say that he come to close the estate. That is one reason. the second is that he tampers with the scale; and three, he rob the workers a day pay. So we don’t want him here,” GAWU representative Sewchan Manga has said.
The two dismissed workers were represented by the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial, and Industrial Employees (NAACIE).
The strike action has seen grinding operations at the Rose Hall Estate being halted since Thursday evening, after the factory workers walked off the job leaving several tons of wood burning. In addition, more than 600 punts of cane had remained on the ground, losing sugar content as a consequence.
However, pressure from the protesting workers resulted in GuySuCo removing the newly appointed Production Manager, and the sugar workers have since resumed work.
Meanwhile, in its missive on Wednesday, GuySuCo has called on Parliamentarian Vinceroy Jordan to desist from making mischievous statements without having the full “facts and figures.”
“The question of corruption in GuySuCo, as stated by Mr. Jordan, is purely nonsensical. Let it be known that GuySuCo is on record to be a corporation that is financially audited by the Auditor General’s Office, and has completed its last financial audit for the year 2022, and is currently working on the year 2023. Such statement of corruption therefore is mischievous, to say the least,” the sugar company has said.
In the preamble to his questions, which were posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Jordan said the parliamentary Opposition would continue to press the Agriculture Minister to get answers to the questions of corruption levelled against his Ministry.

<<Powerhouse control room>>
He went on to call out the Minister for failing to answer the questions relating to the cost of the rehabilitation works done on the powerhouse control room at Albion Estate. In fact, the Opposition MP also submitted questions on those works, asking what repairs were done to the tune of $600 million.
During a National Assembly sitting last month, Minister Mustapha had disclosed that some $600 million had been spent on rehabilitation of the control room at the Albion Sugar Factory, which was destroyed by a fire earlier this year.
The February 3rd blaze, which investigators say was electrical in origin, destroyed millions of dollars in specialized equipment in the control room and resulted in disruption of operations at the sugar factory.
At the time, MP Jordan had cited a preliminary report from GuySuCo which estimated the damages to be at approximately $50 million.
The Agriculture Minister had committed to providing a breakdown of how and on what the $600 million had been spent to repair the powerhouse.
However, in his questions to the House, Jordan is also asking the Minister to provide the engineer’s damage assessment report (cost included) and the engineer’s estimate for works completed, as well as details of the procurement process followed for the procurement and supply of materials and labour to complete the rehabilitation works.
A list of contractors that were procured to supply materials and complete the works at the powerhouse control room was also requested by Jordan. He further asked whether an inquiry was launched into the cause of the fire and the total damage sustained in the control room and powerhouse?
In Wednesday’s missive, GuySuCo confirmed that an investigation/enquiry had been conducted by the Guyana Fire Service and the report had been submitted to the Guyana Sugar Corporation.
“The estimated cost submitted by the Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture, of 600 million Guyana dollars is an accurate representation based upon the engineering estimates; it must be noted that there are two outstanding items in that of Power Generator Sets and Transformers, both of which are in the procurement process, which GuySuCo always follow the standard operating procedure on procurement,” the sugar company has stated.
It was initially reported by GuySuCo that the fire caused serious damage to crucial electrical infrastructure in the powerhouse, including the four-megawatt generating control panel, 2.5-megawatt generating control panels, 700-kilowatt low voltage cap set control panel, 3.3 kv Interbus transformer, Interbus transformer barker, a section of the low voltage bus bar, and several major sections of the circuitry.
GuySuCo informed Jordan that those remedial works conducted on the power plant have resulted in the Albion Sugar Factory being in full production mode for the second crop of 2024. (G8)