Decision Time for Sugar

Jun 01, 2013 Editorial

There is to be yet another shake-up in the administration of the Guyana Sugar Corporation. The Board of Directors is to be revamped and there is every likelihood that one could see the Chief Executive Officer being removed or some of his underlings being sent to work in other locations or simply being paid off.
There have been so many changes in the administration of the sugar industry that one wonders whether the time has not come for Guyana to import the requisite leaders once more as it did when the view was that Guyanese were incapable of managing the industry, given the loss of skills. We had Booker Tate which charged a lot of money merely to administer the industry.
It is no secret that the much-touted Skeldon sugar factory has not lived up to expectation.
Even when there was the prevailing view that Guyana should get out of sugar as the rest of the region was doing, Guyana forged ahead with its largest-ever investment. That investment was supposed to make Guyana more competitive since the new factory would have helped lower the cost of production. In addition, this mill would have churned out sugar in such volumes that Guyana would have more than compensated for the price cuts imposed by the European Union.
But it seemed that from the inception, this factory would have been the millstone around the country. Such was the case that the government wanted blood out of stone. Booker Tate could not deliver so the government ended the contract. It hired Errol Hanoman who worked with Booker Tate. Hanoman was subsequently released when the factory could not live up to expectation.
With President Bharrat Jagdeo facing continued embarrassment at the failure of one of his investments, he kept making promise after promise. The management unit, however, could not deliver. Soon, it became clear that the message was “make the thing work at all costs or get out.” The Skeldon sugar factory did not work when Donald Ramotar was a Director of the Board. Now that he is President, it is unlikely that he can make it work.
The government has been going to Parliament repeatedly for money to keep the Skeldon factory operational. With its Parliamentary majority at the time, it had no problem getting the funds. It was also able to hide the naked truth. Now that it has a Parliamentary minority, the entire issue of the poor performance must come out. The Members of Parliament cannot risk lying. Guyana recorded its worst sugar production in more than two decades despite the huge sums spent on the new factory.
Now we have the Parliamentary Opposition demanding a radical revamp of the sugar industry before it agrees to release money. There are other things wrong with sugar. Indeed, the government recognizes that the bulk of workers in the sugar industry are supporters of the ruling party. This fact limits the extent of harsh action to revamp the industry.
It has not escaped notice that the government is firm in the opinion that any action it takes has nothing to do with calls by A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change, for a revamped sugar industry.
But we all know that the situation is not likely to change. Too much has been allowed to happen. Political considerations abound to the point where that is more important than the flaws.
There are harsh questions that have to be answered. Would a shakeup of management address the deeper problems that have been pulling this industry down?
It will have to include more serious actions that tackle the shortage of cane, the unpredictable weather, the move to introduce more mechanized labour and the speedy conversion of the fields to meet some of these needs.
The irony of the entire situation is that sugar prices have been better within the last couple of years.
Whether the administration will have to bite the bullet and make some harsh decisions that at first glance will have political implications, the reality is that these have to be made sooner than later.
The Opposition, the unions and other stakeholders will have to be part of the decision-making process. It will be a time for Guyana to put aside partisan interests and work to rescue this industry.
Too much has been spent; far too much time has been lost. The bleeding must stop.

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Decision Time for Sugar

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