We will keep investing to make sugar viable – Pres Ali

– Govt, sugar workers reviewing working days

– calls out Opposition on “open banditry” after destroying sector

With the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government having injected over $17 billion into the sugar industry and currently supporting close to 8000 workers, President Dr Irfaan Ali reiterated that his Administration will continue to invest in the sector to bring it up to viability.
Between 2016 and 2017, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) regime closed several estates across Guyana – an action that displaced more than 7000 sugar workers, who were not only without jobs but who had no means to support their families and contribute to their village as well as the national economy.

However, since assuming office in August 2020, the PPP/C Government has undertaken a slew of measures to revive the sugar sector and rehired some 2000 of those dismissed workers. According to President Ali, there are currently some 8000 sugar workers employed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) who would’ve otherwise also been on the breadline had the coalition regime remained in office.
“If we were not in Government, this would’ve been 8000 families on the breadline. Let the 8000 employees of GuySuCo understand this. If we were not in Government, they would’ve been on the breadline. The community despair would’ve been there but we have brought [them] back. And we intend to keep it, to keep investing and make sugar viable,” the Head of State assured during a press conference on Saturday morning at State House.
The APNU/AFC Administration downsized the sugar industry by closing the Wales Estate on the West Bank of Demerara and the Enmore Estate on the East Coast of Demerara as well as the Skeldon Estate and the Rose Hall Estate – both in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

The PPP/C has promised in its manifesto to revive sugar and reopen these estates.
However, after it was found that the assets at Wales Estate were sold out by the previous regime, the PPP/C Government announced plans to establish a Development Authority, where several major industrial operations would be undertaken. Similarly, the Enmore Sugar Estate is also being transformed into an industrial area.

Rose Hall Estate reopening
On the other hand, efforts are already on the way to reopen the Rose Hall Estate later this month.
According to President Ali, the Government has plugged some $8.8 billion into the reopening and employed 1300 persons. He added that there is currently a vacancy for an additional 600 cane harvesters at the estate.
“So, not only are we bringing back those who were fired, but we are opening up more [employment] opportunities,” the Head of State posited.
In an effort to fill these vacancies, GuySuCo has attempted to transfer some workers from the Albion and Blairmont Estates to Rose Hall. These workers were previously employed at the Rose Hall Estate before it was shut down by the coalition and were transferred to those two estates, where they remained employed by GuySuCo.
However, these efforts to have them returned to Rose Hall ahead of the opening sparked weeks-long strike action but even after the transfer was called off by the sugar corporation, the protest continued – with the focus turned to severance pay. They were being supported by several Opposition officials including AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan.
But the Government maintained that since these workers were not retrenched, they are not entitled to any severance pay.
President Ali on Saturday used to opportunity to call out the Opposition on its duplicity when it comes to the sugar industry and its workers. He reminded that Ramjattan was part of the coalition Administration that destroyed the sugar industry while in office.
“Those who are masquerading around as promoters and defenders of the sugar workers are masked in their banditry of destroying the industry… These are the open-masked individuals who stood in Parliament and criticised our defence of this industry and keeping this industry alive.”
“Today, after raiding the workers, their life and their livelihood, they have the audacity, I can’t use integrity… to claim love for the workers. It is what I term open banditry… We have to be far more serious about our lives and our livelihood than to accept this level of deception and dishonour, because that is what it is, and we have to call it for what it is. It is deception and dishonour,” the Head of State asserted.
Meanwhile, it was previously reported that the Government is already rehiring workers for a scaled down reopening of the Skeldon Estate. During a recent outreach in Region Six, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that about 30 per cent of workers have been rehired at the Skeldon Factory.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha told a local newspaper last month that those workers were taken on to prepare the estate for opening to produce sugar at a small scale. He explained that the Government is looking to diversify operations at that estate and is looking to work with farmers to develop the 30,000 acres of land there in order to generate more revenue.
During Saturday’s press conference, President Ali pointed out that the opening of these sugar estates is not only benefitting those re-employed workers but by extension their families, communities and the nation.
“When the sugar estates were closed, many of these areas were ghost towns. I was one of the persons who marched across this country, for sugar workers and for the sugar industry… You now have close to 8000 persons employed in the sugar industry and their families, by extension, they’re spending in the community which adds the community’s disposable income. GuySuCo also invests in drainage and irrigation in different areas that they’re in. They invest in community services including recreation facilities, and clinics. So, it is an integral part of our village economy, our community and our regional economy. So, the improvement of the sugar sector and the expansion of the sugar sector is not only critical at a household level and the community level but it is important at the macro level too,” he stated.

Industry growth & consultations
The Guyanese leader further disclosed during the press conference that the sugar industry grew by 30.1 per cent in the first half of 2023 when compared to the corresponding period last year. He reaffirmed the PPP/C’s full commitment to the revival of the sugar sector and its integration into the regional and national economies.
“We have to ensure that we rebuild the industry to be sustainable, to be resilient and to be competitive. And that is what we’re working on. So, the mechanisation, the use of technology, and also the improvement in yield and variety that we’re using are key components of all this – the agri part of the business also,” he posited.
Additionally, as the Government works with GuySuCo to ensure the viability of the industry, the Head of state disclosed their ongoing consultations with the sugar workers on raising the number of minimum working days.
Under the Collective Labour Agreement between GuySuCo and the labour unions, sugar workers are guaranteed a minimum of four working days per week – something which they want to increase now.
“They’re asking for [an increase in the] minimum number of work days; five at some estates, and six [at others]. And this is a conversation that is ongoing with our sugar workers so that together, we can find that common solution,” the President noted.
Meanwhile, GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh, told <<<Guyana Times>>> that they are in constant engagement with the unions representing sugar workers, meeting every month to discuss a wide range of issues.
“We are listening to what the unions are saying and we are trying to work out the solution framework on every issue,” he noted. Currently, they are negotiating fringe benefits.
In addition, the GuySuCo Head disclosed that they paid out some $152 million in personal incentives to workers last month for high performance. This, he noted, was outside of their weekly incentives for surpassing production targets and their wage. (G-8)