GuySuCo pays for four armed guards at Minister's home

GuySuCo pays for four armed guards at Minister’s home

Nov 25, 2013 News

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is paying for four armed Security Guards for the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud. Persaud lives in a building that is still owned by the sugar corporation.

Minister Robert Persaud

This arrangement has been in place for several years now ever since he was the Minister of Agriculture.
GuySuCo operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and would have been directed by the then Minister, Robert Persaud, to pay for the four armed security guards.
To add insult to injury to the taxpayers of the nation, Minister Persaud, had also taken possession of a generator owned by GuySuCo which is now for his personal use at his home.
This too would have been done when he was Minister of Agriculture and remains in his possession to date.
The generator was housed at the Herdmandson Annex, Lamaha Street, a property that is legally under the control of GuySuCo.
That property, owned by the Government’s National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), has been occupied by Persaud for several years now.
He took up residence during his tenure as Agriculture Minister.
A Board member of GuySuCo confirmed that despite him no longer being the Agriculture Minister and therefore no stewardship over Guysuco, Persaud kept the generator at his residence.
In addition, GuySuCo continues to be saddled with the burden of supplying the fuel for the generator as well as foot the bill for its maintenance.
Kaieteur News understands that GuySuCo Board Members are livid at the situation.

Minister Robert Persaud’s sister Ruth Baljit

While moves have been made for GuySuCo to bill the Natural Resources Ministry, it is unclear whether this was successful.
That GuySuCo is saddled with this additional burden of paying for four armed security guards for Minister Persaud as well as furnishing him with a generator and supplying it with fuel, is an unnecessary expenditure for the entity because it has been in dire financial straits for a number of years now.
There have been accusations that mismanagement, a top-heavy management structure and a host of other problems have all led to GuySuCo being brought to its knees.
This year, GuySuCo will continue its run of poor performances, recording its lowest production in two decades.
Opposition Parliamentarians have singled out wastage and poor decisions by GuySuCo as also contributing to the crisis that the industry now faces.
“People are now speaking out because we can no longer see the Corporation suffering…We want the bleeding to stop and it will have to start at the very top,” said a GuySuCo official under the condition of anonymity.
It is not the first time that Persaud has been under flak.
As the nephew-in-law of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, Robert Persaud was also the recipient of five radio frequencies in late 2011. These were controversially issued through his US-based sister, Ruth Baljit days before Jagdeo ended his term in office.
That radio station is gearing for its launch in a matter of days.