Sugar workers have to get back jobs – Jagdeo tells Enmore

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday told supporters that one of the highest priorities of his party, if it returns to office at the March 2 General and Regional Elections, is to ensure that the displaced sugar workers are re-employed.

Some 7000 sugar workers were placed on the breadline after the incumbent APNU/AFC Administration downsized the industry and shut down four estates across the country.
Many of those workers have not been able to secure permanent jobs and remain on the breadline more than two years later.
However, speaking at a public meeting in Enmore, which housed the East Demerara Estate – one of the four estates closed by the incumbent coalition – Jagdeo noted that the APNU/AFC Administration claimed it does not have money to inject into the industry but has been spending billions lavishly when thousands of sugar workers remain on the breadline.
“[They] increased food in Government by $1.6 billion, over $1 billion for ministerial domestic travel, another $1 billion to rent buildings. That could’ve kept Enmore and Wales [Estates] open. They needed only $5 billion to keep the sugar industry open and save not only 7000 jobs but 11,000 jobs because there are 4000 people who depended on the 7000 sugar workers’ income for a job. Eleven thousand Guyanese could’ve been working, feeding their families,” he posited.
According to the Opposition Leader, there are parents in areas such as Wales, West Coast Demerara (WCD), and Canje, Berbice, who are struggling not only to provide food for their children but also send them to school. In fact, he noted that because of their financial troubles, many kids are forced to drop out of school.
He went on to outline that the sugar workers, like many others in the various sectors, believed the promises made by the APNU/AFC in 2015 but got nothing except for increased taxes and charges.
“So today all the promises were broken to the sugar workers. Right here at Enmore, many people believed that too. They believed that is 20 per cent increase they will get in salaries,” he posited, adding that instead, sugar workers got no increases for the past four years and now in the final year, Government is offering one per cent during the elections period.
The PPP General Secretary added too that the coalition also cancelled the Annual Production Incentive (API) – something which has been in place for 70 years even under the Forbes Burnham-led Administration. The API is a form of deferred earnings premised on annual sugar production.
“So today, if anyone wants to talk about broken promises, the sugar workers have lived it. They’ve seen the true nature of the Government and people like (Prime Minister Moses) Nagamootoo and (AFC Leader Khemraj) Ramjattan, who came into these communities and lied to people blatantly,” he asserted.
Jagdeo pointed out that the incumbent coalition has no vision or plans for the development of Guyana and its people, hence it continuously drags the PPP/C.
However, the Opposition Leader noted that the PPP/C’s plans for the country are about fixing the doings of the incumbent Administration and high on that list is the creation of jobs for the approximately 30,000 persons who became unemployed within the past five years.
“The first act is to create back jobs. Put people back to work. How will we do that… by reopening the sugar estates right across the country… We have to do that to put those sugar workers, especially in Berbice – they have to go back to work,” Jagdeo contended.
But the same vein, the PPP General Secretary explained that they will encounter issues with this because of the massive giveaway of the sugar lands, particularly along the East Coast, by the APNU/AFC to its cronies.
Last week, officials of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) disclosed that approximately 800 acres of prime real estate lands (former sugarcane lands) are available for developmental projects. Already sod has been turned for the construction of two hotels at Plantation Ogle but the deals have raised questions.
Jagdeo outlined, however, that if the PPP/C gets into office then it will find all of the secret land deals and try to get back the lands so that it can be used for housing allotments for Guyanese.
“We’ve made it clear that all the secret deals are going to be unraveled and we will investigate them… This is vital too for housing but we have to create jobs…,” the Opposition Leader asserted.