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Sep 23, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I am deeply concerned about statements being made by government officials concerning the sugar industry. On the one hand following the strike by sugar workers to press their demands for increased wages, there were statements made about the massive losses that resulted from the strike.

Now we are being told a different story. We are being told that the problem is not so much the strike as it is the excuses that are being made by GuySuCo.

It is unfortunate that these comments are taking placing in light the review that is taking place within the industry and more especially in light of the ongoing arbitration process.

These statements which are being made can be deemed to be prejudicial to the arbitration process since they deal with some of the very issues which are likely to be raised therein.

I was a bit disappointed that GAWU, the union representing sugar workers did not object to the Chairman of the arbitration process.

This is not a professional judgment against the individual concerned. But normally in an arbitration process, the person identified should normally be acceptable to both parties and I was surprised that the union did not ask for someone who is not a State employee to head the process.

That being said, however, I am confident that the arbitration panel will disabuse itself of some the comments being made by government officials concerning the industry and will seek to make a judgment based on the evidence which is laid before them.

The workers in the sugar industry should not have to be the victims of excuses. They should not have to be the victims of poor management.

If it is determined that it was poor management that is leading to declining production, then it should be the management that should bear the burden and not the hardworking sugar workers.

GuySuCo has a management contract with Booker-Tate which is paid hundreds of millions of dollars each year to manage the industry. It is time that contract is terminated. In fact it should have ended a long time ago.

It is a sad indictment against Guyanese that some seventeen years after, our sugar industry still needs a foreign management contract.

It should end, and end now, and I hope that the arbitration panel recommends that it ends, and that the millions used to pay Booker Tate be channeled into the workers’ pockets.

I have confidence that with the right choices and with the removal of political interference and appointments, we can efficiently manage our sugar industry.

It was said that Cheddi Jagan once put a tailor to run the electricity corporation and he did a good job at running it efficiently.

I am not asking the tailors of this country to begin to send in their resumes to the government, but I am sure that there are able and competent persons who are willing to run the sugar industry and to improve production.

It is a scandal that we are not likely to exceed 300,000 tonnes of sugar this year. We should have been hitting 400,000 tonnes by now since the sugar expansion and modernization is based on Guyana reaching a maximum of 450,000 tonnes a year.

Time is not on our side. We were producing in excess of 300,000 tonnes in the seventies and for us to not to be surpassing that level is really sad, despite the fact that we have suffered depopulation and consequently a decline in the number of sugar workers.

The solution to the labour shortage is for GuySuCo to move more aggressively to mechanize production.
Yet all we have been hearing for years are plans and more plans. In the meantime, the industry is going downhill.

This decline should be immediately arrested since the industry is critical to the fortunes of Guyana. It can determine whether we have growth or not and it still makes the most significant contribution to our economy in terms of employment.

That employment should not suffer because of excuses. That employment is what has kept the sugar industry going throughout the years and I do hope that the dismal picture that is being painted of the industry by certain persons is not just because of the ongoing arbitration process.

I hope that the government will do something about the alleged excuses and if needs be, send the entire foreign management team packing, because such an arrangement stands as an affront to the ability of Guyanese who, I believe, are capable of managing this industry without the need for a private management contract.

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