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Wales Estate should not be closed

Jan 28, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Sase Singh wrote that GAWU, the PPP and sugar workers should accept the closure of Wales Sugar Estate in order to save the other estates and Guysuco (KN Jan 26). People feel there is a plan afoot to close Guysuco. Wales is the first step in that direction. One by one, the estates will be closed down and by the time Singh realizes what is happening, it will be too late.
In 2014, the PNC called for the closure of Guysuco; one can go back to the newspaper for commentaries.  There is a general feeling that plan is afoot to close Guysuco and distribute the land to financiers of APNU/AFC. During the election campaign, some elements in the PNC (APNU) suggested that should the coalition win the election, Guysuco would be privatized or that the land be given to PNC supporters. In fact, David Granger himself had made the comment before a coalition was formed with AFC that APNU would shut down Guysuco. After the coalition was formed with AFC, Granger changed his words but not his heart.
He, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan indicated that Guysuco would be untouched – lip service paid to sugar workers to win their votes. The coalition committed that no sugar estate would be closed and no sugar worker retrenched. This promise led to thousands of people voting for the coalition. The announced closure of Wales last week is a broken promise – a betrayal of trust by the AFC and APNU for the workers. They fooled sugar workers.
People feel the true position of APNU on Guysuco is being unveiled. The nation has now learned in the media that the decision to close Wales was made even before the commission on Guysuco was established and long before it delivered its report. It seems that the Guysuco Commission is merely rubber stamping the plan of government by recommending the closure of Wales. People are saying Guysuco Commissioners are merely singing for their supper.
The closure of Wales will result in tremendous suffering and hardship for the people of West Coast and West Bank Demerara as well as Georgetown and the nation as a whole. So many economic activities are tied to Wales. The lives of tens of thousands are tied to Wales with tremendous repercussions on social and economic life. For the record, it was Cheddie Jagan who tried to rescue and save bauxite. Jagan was against closure or privatization and committed billions to bauxite. The funds of sugar (when it was profitable) were used to subsidize and save bauxite. Have we forgotten the Forbes Burnham’s sugar levy? Who benefited from it? Where was it invested? Sugar workers hardly benefited from the levy.
Years ago, the great Ravi Dev proposed that Guysuco land be distributed in parcels to sugar workers who, Dev showed, would increase yields; those who own land would work harder and increase harvest. Private cane farming has been relatively productive and profitable. A socialist enterprise is never more profitable than a private enterprise. GAWU and PPP opposed the Ravi Dev proposal. The PPP leadership made it clear giving land to workers would create a new kulak class to which they were opposed. Had the PPP listened to the advice of intellectuals, private farmers would have increased production of sugar and other agro crops in Guyana.
So what should happen to Guysuco since the PNC-AFC government is determined to close it? Contrary to what Sase Singh proposes, Guysuco (government) should experiment with distributing the Wales estate land to the sugar workers and let them grow cane that will be supplied to the factory for sugar production. The government can initially offer the workers a grant so they can continue to grow sugar. In return, the workers should consider an agreement that If yield does not increase substantially, then the estate would be closed and the farmers would engage in farming of other crops. If APNU-AFC considers this proposal, it will show it has greater concern for the well being of sugar workers than the PPP.
Vishnu Bisram

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