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GuySuCo will rebound

Feb 01, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
The weekend press, SN and Kaieteur News, carried a letter by Joey Jagan in relation to the sugar industry. I wish to respond to some of the issues raised.
Before doing so, allow me to thank Joey for the complimentary remarks he made about me. I appreciate them.

Over the past weeks GuySuCo has been in the press and many remarks have been made of its performance. Joey is another in a long line of commentators. He has repeated the unsubstantiated remarks about corruption in the Corporation and then proceeded to say that I, Donald Ramotar “… is not an anti-corruption fighter…”

For Joey’s information, when the PPP/C took office, then President Cheddi Jagan changed the nature of all state boards in our country. They became non-executive boards and not responsible for the day to day management of the business. Indeed the board is a policy making board. It has only an oversight responsibility of the management.

However, being on the board brings a member into contact with many of GuySuCo’s managers. Let me say that I believe that the vast majority of those people that I came into contact with are people of integrity and a hard working and dedicated group. The local managers are very capable and all Guyanese should be proud of such a committed group. I must also add that I have worked with some of the best people I know on GuySuCo’s Board.

I know that the corporation has been accused of having massive corruption, but I have not seen any evidence of the kind of corruption being spoken about.

GuySuCo’s accounts are audited annually. The audits have been done by some of the top accounting firms in the country. At no time did any of those audits show massive corruption in the corporation.
I am afraid that such talk does not help the corporation.

One of the tools that GuySuCo uses as a check to those contemplating corruption is its Internal Audit Department. This body constantly scrutinizes the operations and makes reports. They have uncovered fraud from time to time, but nothing as is being bandied around.

It is also nothing as we have seen happening with some of the commercial banks.
As to the state of the industry, let me say that in some estates we saw signs of neglect which the previous board of GuySuCo dealt with and corrective works have been done and are continuing.

Much of those problems have been uncovered due to the fact that the last board established an agricultural audit unit which picked up those issues and reported on then. This too is ongoing.

The present financial problems have nothing to do with corruption. It is due to a combination of factors.
In the first place it was caused by the large sums that GuySuCo had to plug into the Skeldon expansion and the fact that it is still to come on stream. That has put strains on cash flow.

This project, though, will come into fruition soon and hopefully it will reach all of our expectations.
Added to this is the fall in the price of sugar from the main market in the European Union. In 2007 it was cut by 5%, in 2008 by 9% and this year the cut will be 36%.

It is also due to a fall in production caused by unfavourable weather conditions since 2005. The rain fall experienced since then has caused a major reduction in opportunity days to carry out vital agricultural practices.

We must also admit that neglect took place at some estates that resulted in the fall of production.
In relation to paying the workers more, let me say I am always in favour of this. However, we have to deal with the question of affordability.

Having said that, let me add that the unionized workers of GuySuCo receive some 60% of its revenues as wages and salaries.

This, I am sure you will agree, is not insignificant. I believe that no other company in Guyana is paying so much of its revenues in wages.

In conclusion, let me say that I am very optimistic about GuySuCo’s future. True it is going through some difficulties but it has the capacity to rebound. This is not the first time it has encountered problems.
I have faith in the ability of our workers to turn things around.
Donald Ramotar

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