The dead, sugar, PPP and GAWU gains

Jan 10, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
We should all know by now that the PPP will do anything and everything to get back into power. We all know that GAWU will do all that it can towards ensuring that sugar workers remain as the major supporter of the PPP.
So, when false promises are being pelted out to the public especially the sugar workers at this time, I am not and we should not be surprised.
In December 2017 as stated in the news, almost 4000 sugar workers were given termination letters in Berbice. What I know for a fact is that those letters were not given to them without notice. It was in the news for a long time that they will receive termination letters due to the fact that a few estates will be close.
We all know that sugar is not making a profit, so something has to be done to ensure that GuySuCo does not go into further debts.
If the company is to go into further debts then some time soon it means that they will not have money (it is not like they have any now) to pay workers and then the same would have to happen in terms of termination. But it seems like the PPP and GAWU do not know this.
We need to understand that even a private business person will do same if he\she is not making a profit. They will close the business down and send home their workers, all because they do not want to run at a loss and incur more debts.
Let me give my sympathy to the families, relatives and friends of the two sugar workers that committed suicide in December 2017. I know that sudden death can have an impact on the families and I ask that you all stand strong especially for the children that have a future ahead.
But, I was surprised when the PPP supporters and some of its executives linked the suicides to sugar. This PPP and GAWU will do anything even using the dead for political power. I am not surprised at all because Dr. Jagan’s name is what keeps the PPP alive.
During their campaigns they use that name more times that it is written in the history books of Guyana. They also use his pictures towards invoking the dead.
How would anyone say that the termination letter is the cause that those two gentlemen committed suicide? I don’t believe that the investigation is completed as yet into what caused the death of the two men.
The workers knew for months now that they will be terminated; PPP and GAWU said it almost every hour of the day in public, be it newspapers, social media, television, bottom house meetings, etc. So it should have been no surprise letter.
I do believe that the PPP and GAWU are the ones that should be blamed for those workers’ deaths. The reason for those two suicides could very well be because PPP and GAWU are going to workers and spreading lies about what’s the real happenings in the industry. They are the ones that are putting it over to the workers as if they will have no future and cannot live when they are terminated.
The PPP and GAWU are the ones that are taking the suicidal thoughts of workers and their families. They are the ones that are causing the workers and their families to think as if they have no future.
It’s a shame that PPP is once again using the dead for their political gains. PPP needs to stop using the grieving families as their tools for political power. It’s shameful to see the length to which the PPP will go to regain power.
At a recent Funeral House, the PPP members were waving their party flag and singing the party song over a dead body. It’s a shame that they are campaigning on the dead. The leader of the party Bharrat Jagdeo was there and he also took part.
GAWU also seems to be one of the driving forces into taking the negative messages to the workers and their families. GAWU fight is not for the workers but for the union dues; that’s what they are fighting for and to ensure workers keep the PPP as their supporters.
For twenty-three long years, the PPP was in power and they cannot find any solution to sustain the sugar industry and the workers. Now they are saying they have solutions.
Maybe their solutions are to fool the workers and spread false messages so that they can have the worker’s votes come 2020.
After that, the solution will dissolve and they will forget the workers the same way they did since 1992. So workers need to be aware of the false fight from the PPP. Now with the oil monies, the PPP will promise gold and diamond to the people of Guyana especially sugar workers, but we all need to think.
Think of the neglect for the past 23 years that you the workers had to face from the PPP and think if they go there again the pressure will be worse than those 23 years that they had.
GAWU and the PPP need to stop spreading the fears into the lives of the sugar workers and their families. GAWU must start telling workers and their families not to listen to the PPP because they are inciting fears into their lives.
But we all know GAWU would never do that because if they do, their President who is a PPP sitting MP, will be recalled from his post in the National Assembly.
I am also calling on all the NGOs that are preaching suicide prevention to condemn the PPP and GAWU behaviour towards spreading of the wrong messages to the workers and their families that are creating suicidal taught within their minds.
To all the workers and their families be strong. Don’t allow anyone to use your grief or death for their political gains. Stop them from driving fears into your life’s, because they are living happily and fearless.
All is not lost; there is a bright future ahead of us no matter what. Don’t try to tell yourself that it’s the end of things or life, NO. Continue to shoulder each other at this time when some come to you as sheep in wolf clothing, because they have created what is happening within the industry today.
I call once again on the PPP and GAWU to stop this type of political campaigning because thousands of people’s lives are involved when you go out there and spread lies and try to send fear into the minds of the people that can motivate them towards taking their lives.
Regards
Abel Seetaram
Regional Councilor
RDC Region 5

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