President Ali, Agriculture Minister must be commended for rebuilding the Rose Hall Estate

Dear Editor,
Six years after the David Granger-led coalition Government closed four of the country’s sugar estates –Enmore, Rose Hall, Skeldon and Wales — the Rose Hall Estate has officially returned to production, thus bringing a great sense of relief to the residents of Canje and restoring life to the Canje-Sheet Anchor community and the county of Berbice.
Following closure of the estates in 2017, more than 7000 sugar workers and their relatives were placed on the breadline, and many were faced with immense economic hardship.
The APNU+AFC Government did not implement a feasibility plan to cushion the impact of unemployment that followed, and they also refused to follow the normal tradition of offering the workers severance pay.
The residents of Canje and surrounding areas are exceedingly delighted and overjoyed that that estate has been reopened, and they thank President Dr Irfaan Ali and the PPP/C Government for fulfilling their campaign promise to reopen the estate, which currently employs more than 1200 people.
In return, President Dr. Ali applauded the management and staff of GuySuCo, as well as the union, for the role they played in refurbishing the sugar estate.
Since taking office on August 2, 2020, President Dr. Ali has asserted that one of his government’s objectives was to reopen the sugar estates; because, as he puts it, the proper functioning of the sugar estates is integral to Guyana’s economic and social development, and sugar in intertwined with the Guyanese culture.
Insisting that “King Sugar” is here to stay, President Dr Ali, on a visit to Rose Hall Sugar Estate on September 24, 2023, opined that the once-dormant sugar factory, which was shuttered by the coalition Government, is now grinding and producing sugar.
According to His Excellency, the Rose Hall Estate is deemed the most productive sugar factory in the country, and with its grinding engines functioning at an efficient capacity, it is expected to increase production by more than 12,000 tons.
President Dr Ali, who took a leading role in the rebuilding of the Rose Hall Estate, emphasized that its revival is sound testimony to the difference between a PPPC Government that builds and the APNU+AFC Government that destroys. He reassured the workers that his government would not fail them, and that he would make sure that no effort would be speared in making the sugar industry viable, sustainable, and resilient.
The rebuilding of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate and the rehiring of 1200 full-time and 35 part-time workers could not have been accomplished without its most talented and adept Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Sasenarine Singh, a chartered public accountant who spent more than seven years researching and studying the sugar industry in Guyana. Considered by many as the ablest, most effective, honest and highly professional CEO of GuySuCo in recent times, Mr. Sasenarine Singh’s proactive style of leadership and camaraderie with all the workers, including directors, managers, engineers, factory, and field employees, has been outstanding. Since his appointment by President Dr. Ali in 2020 as the CEO of GuySuCo, Singh has worked tirelessly and unselfishly to rebuild the Rose Hall Sugar Estate which was demolished.
According to Singh, when he visited the Rose Hall Estate in late 2020, the factory was completely gutted, marred by neglect and decay, its engines dismantled, and its buildings destroyed. Of the 17 functioning tractors owned by the estate prior to its closure, only two of the tractors had existed, but they were unworkable. The CEO revealed that their wheels were missing; batteries, alternators, starters and radiators had all disappeared. He further stated that more than half of the two hundred punts were rotten, and the fields and drainage network, once the lifeblood of the estate, were overrun by weeds. Singh concluded that, basically, he discovered a “scrap yard” at the Rose Hall Estate when he took over operations.
He made it clear that the closing of the sugar estates by the APNU+AFC Government was painful, unconscionable, and a great injustice to the workers and the nation. He insisted that the cruelty that was inflicted on the sugar workers and the damage that was done to individual households and the community may be lasting, and should never happen again.

Like President Dr. Ali who led in the rebuilding of the Rose Hall Estate, and the CEO who steered the operations, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha must be commended for spearheading the restoration of the sugar factory. The Agriculture Minister was overly optimistic that the rebuilding of the estate, even though it was a very ambitious goal, would enhance the livelihoods of the people of Canje and boost the socio-economic impact of the community as well as employment in Berbice.
However, he was blunt when he said that the closing of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate was callous, reckless, heartless, and insensitive to the needs of the more than 7,000 laid-off workers, their families, and the community at large. It was the greatest mistake made by the previous Government.
Minister Mustapha acknowledged that due to the closure of the Rose Hall Estate, the once bustling Canje-Sheet Anchor area where the estate is located was reduced to a ghost town, but once the estate is reopened, it will return to its former glory days. He pointed out that the coalition Government which made the decision to close the estates did not look at how it would affect the livelihood of workers, and the role of GuySuCo beyond sugar, or focused on the vast impact that the industry has on the wider society and economy.
The Minister of Agriculture reiterated that GuySuCo is the largest single employer in the country after the Government, and it has contributed significantly to the various sports facilities and provided drainage and irrigation services to several communities. For him, GuySuCo is a way of life for the people of Guyana, and everything will be done to maintain the industry.

Sincerely,
Dr Asquith Rose