Sugar is sweet but its future looks bleak and bitter

Jan 24, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
There may be a third factor, (other than young people and Amerindians) which I may have overlooked in determining the results of this year’s election, that is, sugar.
Over the years the PPP has been in power I was continually baffled by the continuation of strikes in the sugar belt, since one assumed that the government and the major union GAWU were sharing a blatant incestuous relationship – strange bedfellows indeed!
However, a distinction may have to be made. During the tenure of Dr Cheddi Jagan, if my memory serves me right, there were no strikes in the sugar belt.
This may have been testament to his continued appreciation of what sugar in the form of the union GAWU had helped the PPP achieve after years in the political wilderness, although Cheddi could have been accused of reneging on his promise to remove the sugar levy immediately after his assumption of high office.
It took a few years for the levy – under Cheddi – to be reduced and then removed eventually. To be fair to him it was impractical to remove it right away when it would have resulted in a massive shortfall in government revenues. However, in politics you say anything to get elected and then try to make good your promises or forget about them since you are guaranteed perpetuity even if you don’t keep them in an ethnically polarized society like ours.
Enter Mr. Jagdeo as the president and we saw a smattering at first and then more sustained strikes in the sugar belt. By then however, it was too late to reign in the Jagdeo juggernaut, which was on a crash course with the PPP old “steam engine” to use a metaphor. On the ‘face’ of it we were told, had to do with the workers earning a decent wage, blah, blah, and blah.
The missing part of that puzzle was that senior PPPites were not happy with the direction the government was going (yes, the government and not the PPP). By this time the President and the new elites (economic) in Guyana were going in another direction, which would see darkness, corruption and extreme evil taking over our country. So a few strikes, by sugar workers here and there served to let Mr. Jagdeo know that the union, withdrawing its incestuous support could rein him in. The President was not deterred however, and countered by getting financing for the Skeldon modernization project, but which so far has proved to be a colossal failure.
For the sake of Guyana I am praying that at least the money spent and invested would be recouped and then sugar is divested like bauxite was.
Thus the role of sugar in determining the outcome of the elections this year may be a very important factor. Witness the recent foray into Bath settlement by the AFC and the call by Mr. Ramjattan for Indo Guyanese to not be fearful of Afro Guyanese. However, Ramjattan missed a big opportunity and should have addressed the issues in sugar and agriculture by extension as his point of attack.
The Blairmont Sugar Estate employs many people who live in West Berbice including Bath Settlement and they depend on sugar for their daily bread.
Mr. Ramjattan must be pellucid about his plans for sugar if elected since if he is, then he would face the dilemma of PPPites in the form of Messrs Komal Chand, Chandrapal and others who are very influential in the sugar union GAWU.
This will be a very critical issue that the PPP can use as leverage in negotiations or talks or plain political pressure (PPP) to weaken any new government. Thus any new government that is not the PPP will have to address sugar by either planning for an economy without it or implement a viable plan for it if it is at all economically feasible.
In closing I am urging all sugar workers to take some time to meditate and think about their future and that of sugar. Do they want their sons and daughters to become tomorrow’s cane-cutters and poorly paid sugar workers or are they looking to enhance their lives and standard of living by having a modern-thinking government which is what I think the AFC represents, or are they prepared to continue with 18 more years of the present government. Sugar is sweet but its future looks bleak and bitter especially with the PPP.
Clyde Pestano

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