Did Dr. Leslie Ramsammy mislead Parliament?

Jun 03, 2012 News

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… APNU zeroes in on Minister’s ‘misleading statements’ in House

By Gary Eleazar

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who is no stranger to controversy,

could this time find himself before a “Parliamentary Firing Squad’ if the opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has its way.
This was confirmed by APNU’s Executive Member and Shadow Parliamentarian with responsibility for the Sugar Industry, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine. Dr. Ramsammy has parliamentary responsibility for the sugar industry.
Dr. Roopnaraine drew reference to a specific case recently reported by this publication and said that should it be established that the Agriculture Minister did in fact mislead the Parliament of Guyana, then there are mechanisms available to deal with him.
He says that APNU is currently preparing an in-depth dossier of the concerns, related directly to the sugar industry and its officials.
Dr. Roopnaraine said that the party has zeroed in on what appears to be misleading statements to the Parliament.
He was speaking to the lamentations of Dr. Ramsammy, during the recent Budget Debates where he spoke of the end of the European Union’s Sugar Protocol of preferential pricing for countries such as Guyana.
Dr. Ramsammy had intimated to the National Assembly, which is often times referred to as the ‘Hallowed Chambers’ and the ‘Highest Forum in the Land,” that Guyana had been taken by surprise by the cuts.
This, he said, lent in part to the need for the $4B bailout of the Sugar Industry.
This however was a far cry from the utterances of his predecessor, Robert Persaud, when he had appeared before the Parliamentary Economic Services Committee, and was grilled on the sugar industry and the EU dilemma.
Persaud on February 4, 2010 appeared before the Parliamentary Committee, which was at the time being chaired by Gail Teixeira, Dharamkumar Seeraj and included opposition members such as the late Winston Murray and the Alliance for Change Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan.
Robert Persaud told the Committee, “We all know that when the discussions had started with the end to the EU Sugar Protocol, the government had submitted a Guyana National Action Plan of which a subset was the Sugar Action Plan.”
Dr. Ramsammy told the Parliament during the 2012 budget debates that there had been an “intention” signaled on the part of the EU, to effect the sugar cuts but there was no clear “indication” of the timing.
This, he said, led to unanticipated lost revenue from sugar exports and as a result, Government would have needed to plug the $4B to cushion the impacts.

But according to Persaud, inherent in the Sugar Action Plan was “that, there were some strategic decisions taken so that we can rescue, save, sustain and make viable the Guyana Sugar Industry.”
According to Persaud, “We also recognise that when this announcement (price cuts) came, many of the countries within the Region, and elsewhere in fact, decided that they would leave sugar, and close down their industries…But, recognising the potential socio-economic difficulties this can pose and also recognising too that sugar itself can be part of our overall National Development Plan going forward, given the work and the feasibility done as well as the potential that exists, the Government took that conscious decision that we will be staying with sugar and in so doing we had to make changes.”
Dr. Roopnaraine says that at present the party has not yet settled on a particular course of action as it relates to censuring Dr. Ramsammy but said that there are a number of actions available and drew reference to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges.
The APNU second in command in Parliament reminded that the various Committees are gearing to be constituted and begin to get down to work under the new dispensation as against that of the 9th Parliament.
During the 9th Parliament of Guyana the Minister of Housing and Water was committed to appear before the Committee of Privileges by the then House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran.
The 9th Parliament was however dissolved and that Minister was never censured or a determination of innocence or guilt arrived at.
Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine reminded that over the course of the past few weeks a number of questions have been submitted to the Minister which he is obligated to answer.
Speaking about the questions directed to Dr. Ramsammy and the impact of the price cuts Dr. Roopnaraine said that he has also requested answers on the billions of dollars flowing in Guyana’s direction from the EU.
This money, he reminded, was to compensate for the sugar cuts and designed to cushion the impact and assist affected countries such as Guyana to cope with and re-adjust as a result of the lost direct revenue from sugar sales.
He did confirm that he is in receipt of a number of answers from the Minister and all are being utilized to compile the APNU Dossier on the sugar industry.
Persaud in 2010 told the Committee, unlike what had been intimated by Dr. Ramsammy in 2012, that,  “in terms of fulfilling those strategic and broad objectives, the new Board was tasked with coming up with a blueprint which we call a Strategic Blueprint for Success, commonly referred to as the Turnaround Plan…”
This roadmap is also yet to yield the desired results.

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