The Junior Finance Minister cannot be serious

Dear Editor,
My attention was drawn to an article captioned “Nothing wrong with ‘inexperienced’ GuySuCo Board – Junior Finance Minister”, which was carried in your March 15, 2018 edition; and another, captioned “Cabinet members annoyed at NICIL ad on new GuySuCo board – says final decision still to be taken”, which was carried on the same day in another section of the media.
I don’t think the Junior Minister of Finance could be serious that nothing is wrong with inexperienced people being appointed on the GuySuCo Board. As a senior official in the Ministry of Finance, he ought to have known that since his government came into office, it has provided more than $36 billion in subsidies to the sugar industry, and there is no improvement whatsoever in the affairs of the company to convince the taxpayers of this country that their hard-earned money has been meaningfully spent.
All that the management and the previous board could show is a significant diminution of sugar production, closure of 4 estates, and putting almost 7,000 workers out of work. When the previous board was appointed, it boasted of the expertise and experience in the sugar industry that it would bring to the boardroom. As is well known, that same experienced board has left a legacy of an industry being halved, production last year having slumped to the lowest in 27 years, and this year’s production most likely being lowest since 1871, when 92,000 tonnes sugar were made. This is the record that an experienced board has left. So it is unimaginable what an “inexperienced” board will leave when its term comes to an end.
Editor, there was a full-page ad that was carried in every local daily newspaper on March 14. I am pretty sure that it costs quite a lot to publish, but who paid for this ad? It is unprecedented for a government-appointed board to be given such level of publicity, with a brief biography for each board member; and to cream it off, GuySuCo, financially-beleaguered at the moment, placed a paid ad in March 15 newspapers where management welcomes and endorses the newly-appointed board. Ironically, the same management did not place an ad welcoming and endorsing the previous board.
It is unbelievable that a full page ad is placed announcing the appointment of a board, and a “final decision is still to be taken” by Cabinet for such appointment. Someone with authority in the right place must have given approval for the placement of such an ad; if not, then it is expected that the nation will be informed who usurped the authority of Cabinet. A perusal of each board member’s shortened biography supports the Junior Finance Minister’s contention that not only are they inexperienced, but, except for one member, they have no knowledge of the sugar industry. GuySuCo is already faced with a cadre of managers who have shown over the last couple of years that they are incapable of moving the industry forward. Having an inexperienced board will only serve to exacerbate an already weak establishment.
Editor, each of the board members is knowledgeable and experienced in a particular field, but what will that person bring to the sugar industry to cause a significant turn-around in the right direction? I ask what will those skills, without knowledge and experience in the sugar industry, bring to GuySuCo to make a positive impact? What meaningful contribution will the pilot/conservationist, digital marketing strategist, a tried and proven failed diversification specialist, a legal officer, a former senior manager/former board member in a previously failed board bring to the boardroom to cause a change of fortunes in the sugar industry?
The Junior Finance Minister opined that a nine-member board, inclusive of a Chairman, is not oversized relative to 3 operating estates; for, as he postulated, provision has to be made for absenteeism to form a quorum. Provision for absenteeism in a highly paid board? Editor, if the Government really wants to cause a turnaround of the sugar company, it has to critically look at appointing people to sit on the board who have the required skills, knowledge and experience in the complex nature that is involved in every aspect of the growing and processing of sugar cane, not recycling tried and proven failed personnel, not bringing on board party supporters and the crème de le crème of civil society; if not, in a short while, the 3 remaining estates will be driven into oblivion.

Yours faithfully,
Selwyn Narinedatt