…criticises Govt’s reckless approach to restructuring industry
By Michael Younge
Come 2020, sugar workers across Guyana will have the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction over the reckless, rash and insensitive manner in which the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government has handled their livelihoods as it rushed to restructure the sugar industry.
These were the sentiments expressed by Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Member of Parliament Irfaan Ali as he expressed dismay over the alarming levels of insincerity and insensitivity shown by the Government to the concerns being raised by thousands of sugar workers who are now on the breadline and in some cases, still owed their rightful severance payments and other benefits.
Ali said the decision to close several sugar estates over the past two and a half years has had a direct and indirect negative impact on the economies of several rural communities across the sugar belt. He said too that it has resulted in these, mostly poor families, facing unimaginable hardships and trials that threaten their survivability from an economic standpoint.
Disposable income
The Opposition MP contended that persons could not send their children to school and were finding it harder as the days go by to cover the expenses associated with the payment of basic utility bills, groceries and other household overheads.
He said rural communities in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) were particularly hard-hit by the closure of the estates and the dismissal of hundreds of hard working sugar workers.
Ali, a former PPP Government Minister with responsibility for the housing, tourism and business sector, argued that Region Three’s commercial sector is also feeling the squeeze as people’s disposable incomes have been reduced and therefore their spending ability significantly diminished.
Asked whether he is satisfied with the Government’s retraining and skills training initiatives following the closure of some of these estates, Ali responded in the negative, as he drove home the point that these initiatives are half-baked and ingenuine.
“What is also worrying is the promise of alternative livelihood programme. The truth is nothing new and has been done over the last three years to improve the livelihoods of these dismissed workers. The promises of training them in the area of aquaculture…rice production and a host of other skills have not been kept,” he reported.
He was adamant that if the Government was really concerned about the welfare and future of sugar workers, alternative livelihood programmes would have been rolled out long before the workers were severed in order to create a paradigm shift and prepare workers for what lies ahead.
Ali, a trained economist, criticised the Government’s lack of a structured policy and plan when it comes to making fundamental decisions about the future of the industry.
“The fact that this Government has failed to conduct the necessary social and economic impact assessments before closing the estates and sending home thousands is criminal. This exposes the fact too that there is no structured policy in place to reduce the negative debilitative impacts of such these decisions. They have not even assessed the skills of the workers so how can they serious talk about retraining and retooling them to enter new industries,” he remarked.
White Paper
Reminded that Agriculture Minister Noel Holder is holding out that the decisions taken by the Granger Administration are clearly outlined in its White Paper on the future of sugar industry, which was presented to Parliament in 2016, Ali responded, “We cannot take what the Minister of Agriculture is saying as the truth.”
He explained that there are still a lot of questions about the White Paper itself, its thrust and rationale. That aside, he insisted that the taxpayer- funded Commission of Inquiry into the sugar industry never recommended any closure of estates.
Questioned as to whether he agrees with the suggestions made by the Government that it has freed the sugar workers from political bondage and being used by the PPP, Ali immediately disagreed, explaining that sugar workers are sensible people and they understand the real underpinnings of the decision.
“If the sugar workers were under bondage, why did Mr Nagamootoo promise to keep sugar alive and to expand sugar… on many occasions, they promised to improve the livelihoods… check their manifestos…”, he retorted.
He branded both Nagamootoo and the APNU as dishonest as he said they were the ones using sugar workers ahead of the last elections.
“Sugar workers have the opportunity to judge who has been sincere, who has misled them and who has been lying to them… PPP has always found ways to keep the sugar industry alive and to keep their jobs while taking tough decisions which in the long-run led to all of positives for the industry. We would have weathered the storm because the welfare of our peoples are more important profits,” Ali surmised.
Ali charged that real power belongs to the people and come 2020 they will have their say and opportunity to exercise that democratic power based upon their assessments and experiences under this regime.
