Children of Bless the Children Home

May 27, 2010 News

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The sugar industry has always been of supreme importance to the national economy in many respects. It is the largest foreign exchange earner and the most significant contributor to the gross domestic product.
In addition, it provides direct employment for well over 20,000 workers and indirect employment for another 10,000 in ancillary supporting industries and services. As a consequence, more than 100,000 dependants of employees are fed, clothed and housed from sugar industry incomes.
People who have never been associated with the sugar industry might find it difficult to comprehend the social and economic disaster that could result through its demise. It would be a national disaster of immense proportions that Guyana can ill afford, particularly at this time when almost every country in the world is adversely affected by the current global recession.
Yet there are many who seem not to care and venture to make callous and irresponsible comments about an industry that has brought so much good to so many people.
The new state-of-the-art Skeldon sugar factory is a ‘fait accompli’ i.e an established fact and the clock cannot be turned back. It is therefore incumbent to make the best of this significant investment at all levels to justify its enormous expenditure.
This implies the active and moral support of all Guyanese and not unwarranted destructive criticism solely for partisan political mileage.
The sugar industry has unfortunately placed itself in the same position as West Indies Cricket when the lords of the Cricket Board prematurely jettisoned experienced and extremely competent senior players and replaced them with youths, void of the required experience.
Similarly too in the case of sugar where many capable experienced senior management personnel were either side-lined or cast aside only to be replaced by inexperienced green-horns with limited practical management experience that could have little positive impact in an industry teaming with numerous complexities.
In time past, only the very best could have found a place in the top echelons of this prime industry. Bookers in particular had apprenticeship and management cadetship schemes that groomed promising candidates with appropriate qualifications through attachments where on-the-job and formal class room training guaranteed quality as the end result. This applied to both local and expatriate employees.
As a consequence the industry always had at its disposal a vast reservoir of skilled professionals who brought much prestige and international respect to our sugar industry that was rated as one of the best, if not the best in this hemisphere.
A perusal of the archives of Bookers Sugar Estates, the Demerara Company and the Guyana Sugar Corporation would be quite revealing in relation to the names of outstanding ‘Captains’ in the sugar industry. Unfortunately, within recent times inexperienced persons are catapulted into very specialized areas.
The presence of inexperience at senior positions is too high-risk particularly in areas that require professional expertise.
Inasmuch as decentralization in principle might be essential and good for the management of our sugar estates that occupy vast swards of acreage and involve the management of thousands of workers of varying skills and professions and, also, the management of costly plant and infrastructure, it is imperative that responsibility be placed in capable hands for very obvious reasons.
Unfortunately, this appears not to be the current practice and this enormous responsibility is entrusted to some individuals whose primary concern is the glamour and gloss of management with high financial remuneration supplemented by gubernatorial perks and privileges reminiscent of the colonial era.
The sugar industry must not be allowed to decline and fall like the Roman Empire or, much closer, like West Indies Cricket over the past few years due to the poor judgement of those in authority.
As time is of the essence, the Guyana Sugar Corporation should consider the recall and placement on short-term contracts of available competent former senior executives to give support at weak levels of management which are contributory to the industry’s declining fortunes that hinge, inter alia, around poor yield from fields, poor maintenance of plant and equipment, poor employment practices, poor welfare and poor industrial relations.
The common denominator is ‘poor’. And with the best will in the world, you cannot stimulate the sugar industry with so many demotivating negatives.
Guysuco now has the benefit of a highly qualified, well trained, dedicated and highly internationally respected Chief Executive who has the benefit of considerable experience in the sugar industry.
He has the capacity to turn around the industry in general and to make the Skeldon venture a resounding success in particular. But as a chain is as strong as its weakest link, the Chief Executive must have the strongest possible supporting links, in the chain of command especially at senior management levels, to achieve the desired results within a limited time span.
There is pressing need for managerial dynamism which might well be in short supply due to the calibre in the most critical and sensitive areas. A candidate just fresh from University cannot be expected to have the required dynamism overnight.
Hence the need for support from proactive persons with experience gained through years of experience in the industry. Reactive management does not have the capacity to motivate commitment to the aims and objectives of a Corporation that has been reduced to the unpardonable situation where it cannot even supply its own local markets with sugar.
What a burning shame in the 21st century after more than 300 years experience in the production of sugar in this territory!!

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