Either the President of Guyana is clueless and knows little about what is happening in Guyana, or he is deliberately lying and hiding his true intentions about how Guyana is being governed. With SUGAR dying and with thousands of sugar workers losing their jobs, President Granger could not provide answers to any of the questions that people have on sugar when he held his first press conference for 2018. In fact, what became even more pellucid is that the President simply does not care about what happens to SUGAR, and what might be the impact on the lives of tens of thousands of people. What was clear last week, during that rare press conference, is that he does not care that his Government’s handling of sugar has already impoverished thousands of people. Clearly, the President believes oil will rescue the economy and his Government. But it is sheer foolishness to think oil is a panacea. It is not just foolish; it is reckless, irresponsible and wrong to kill sugar. We need OIL and sugar, not just OIL or just sugar.
There is a crisis situation in Guyana. SUGAR is being killed. Teachers are on strike because the Government has refused to fairly negotiate with them. The financial status of the country is in crisis: debt is increasing, the reserve is being squandered, the Guyanese dollar is depreciating, failed loans are increasing etc. There are significant worries about the OIL arrangements with EXXON and with the loans from China. Yet President Granger claims that it is difficult for him to arrange press conferences to publicly address national issues, and to be accountable to the people of Guyana. When the President says he is too busy for press conferences, he means he is unwilling, because he is deeply rooted in his dictatorial fantasy.
Anyways, he held his first press conference for 2018, and only his third in over three years as the President of Guyana. During that press conference, it was frightening how little information he had, or was willing to share with the people of Guyana.
Sugar workers have been owed their severance for nine months now. They earned their severance. It is a matter of law, both national law and international law. When APNU/AFC terminated the employment of more than 7,000 sugar workers, they were required by law to immediately pay the sugar workers. After intense pressure, they paid a part of the severance to the workers months late, and then promised that the workers would get the rest before school opened in September. September is here. President Granger had no information to provide to the sugar workers and the rest of Guyana. All he was willing to say is that they will be paid sometime. What sometime means is only known to him and God. This is disgusting and insulting, particularly to the sugar workers and their families, who have been betrayed and abandoned.
In the meanwhile, other than protests organised by GAWU, the union has approached the court for remedy, hoping that a court action would hasten movement by APNU/AFC to pay the workers what they are legally entitled. It was hoped that the Government would do the decent thing and either pay the workers, or meet with the union to provide a reasonable timeline. Instead, the Government is playing games, and has decided to contest the matter in court. Their lawyers, including Ralph Ramkarran, showed up in court to contest the legal matter. I am hopeful because, with Ralph Ramkarran representing GuySuCo, he will advise them to do the proper thing and pay off the sugar workers with interest.
The President again promised that the biggest public corporation and still one of the biggest companies in Guyana will soon have a Board of Directors. He had promised this before, and other Cabinet members also promised. But it has been more than six months that this important public corporation has had no board. Before that, for several months there were two boards, and no one knew who was in charge. In that time also, there was no substantive CEO. Now the Cabinet appointed a CEO, an old ally of the Government, without any input from a board of directors. This is surely not acceptable.
The President also had no idea what the $30 billion loan that has been taken by the SPU for GuySuCo will be used for. He had no idea what has happened to the $17 billion of that loan that is already in the bank account of the SPU. Clearly, the lack of information is not just that we have a President who is clueless. This is part of a deliberate strategy to kill sugar.
