Dear Editor,
This is not the first time that the Peoples National Congress (PNC) has bankrupted this country through a proliferation of incompetence, failed social and economic policies, forthright corruption, and barefaced theft. Once again, it is the PPP/C which is given the unenviable Herculean task to bring forth this nation from the social morass and economic decay which has progressed rapidly since the PNC took office in May 2015.
Sadly, this is not the first time that the PNC has attempted to sell off GUYSUCO in its bid to squander state assets as a last resort, when it has clinically bankrupted the economy and emptied the Treasury.
We saw that, between 1989 and 1992, the PNC went berserk to sell off state assets to friends and cronies at obscenely low prices under the guise of the Economic Recovery Program to privatise the ‘socialist economy’.
Massive ‘kick backs’ was the order of the day. For instance, the Guyana Telecommunications Corporation, a profit-making entity, was sold for a meagre US$16.5 million when it was earning a profit of US$2-4 million annually. This happened in 1991. Another profitable company, the National Paint Company Limited, was sold for US$1.15 million despite the workers wanting to buy it for US$1.2 million. Also, the Guyana Timbers Limited was sold for US$23.2 million, but was valued at US$130 million.
Another highly corrupt deal was the sale of Demerara Woods Limited, which was sold in 1991 for 9.7 million pounds, and was resold 2 months later for 61 million pounds.
But what is more alarming is the fact that, in 1992, the Demerara Woods Limited was valued at 74 million pounds, and the rainforest concession was valued at US$206 million.
These were just a few rainforest concessions that were given away like ‘cheap hot cakes’ by the PNC.
Fortunately, the PNC’s attempt in 1991 to sell off GUYSUCO was met with strong resistance from the PPP, led by former President Dr Cheddi Jagan, GAWU, and the sugar workers. The PNC always try to sell off before an election.
An important point which must be noted is the fact that all these pre-1992 state entities were engulfed by massive corruption, squandermania, political interference, and employment of political appointees in strategic positions, siphoning off profits to other Government agencies, where the profits are either stolen or squandered. This is not unlike what transpired from 2015, when the PNC-dominated coalition Government assumed office.
In 1992, when the PPP/C took office, the fortunes of the remaining state entities began to progress, and despite challenges faced by GUYSUCO due to the EU price cut, sugar was still making a significant contribution to the economy.
The PPP/C Government had embarked on a capitalisation programme that saw marked improvements in the field and factory operations. If these programmes were allowed to continue from 2015 until now, GUYSUCO would have already been on the road to recovery. In the PPP/C 2015 Manifesto, $20 billion was pledged to continue to upgrade the industry. Unfortunately, despite empty rhetoric by Granger and his Government, the Granger ‘sugar bowl’ came under the PNC collateral damage programme and the workers became expendables.
GUYSUCO was strangled and left to die.
The PNC’s drama to give subsidy will not fool anyone, since the political hacks who oversaw the spending guaranteed that the capitalisation programme was starved of much-needed resources while they became ‘fatter cats’. The PNC also used GUYSUCO as its personal ‘dharm shala’ to provide a living for its many incompetent and senile geriatrics, who placed further burden on the operational estates. In fact, as it is now seen, the entire Government became a ‘vacation destination’ and old folks’ home for the PNC’s les incompetents.
Then, in 2016, the PNC made a second attempt to sell off 4 estates by first closing them and dismissing more than 7,000 employees. It is basic business sense that if you want to sell a business, you do not first close it and then sell it. Any prudent businessman would try to improve it and sell it as a going concern. But, in this case, it was first to exact revenge on the sugar workers, who are seen as PPP/C supporters; destroy their livelihoods and the industry, and then use the industry as their personal ‘milking cows’ to fill their pockets, to sell off lands, machinery and equipment to cronies at rock bottom prices in order to collect massive kickbacks.
The PNC squandered millions to ‘sell’, but that was never the intent. Moreover, the Coalition procured a $30 billion bond which, in addition to being squandered, became a millstone around an already drowning entity due to the service costs. The SPU was created to ensure that the resources never reached GUYSUCO, and the bond was never used as it was intended: to upgrade the operational estates, both field and factory; to establish co-generation plants; and to produce ethanol commercially. The SPU was the corruption filter.
Today, the PPP/C Government’s task would have been so simple if the 4 estates were not closed but had remained operational. What the Coalition did to the sugar industry is utterly reprehensible and downright criminal; and, once again, I am calling for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate this criminal act.
Fortunately, the PPP/C Government has appointed an Agriculture Minister whose competence will once again bring back GUYSUCO to its former glory. It is not a ‘mission impossible’, the PPP/C has a track record of bringing back progress and prosperity to this country, and President Ali, Vice-President Jagdeo and their team would achieve this again. Let us not forget that Dr Jagan and Dr Jagdeo did the impossible before!
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
