End tug of war between GuySuCo and NICIL – GAWU tells Govt.

Dec 29, 2018 News

“The GAWU calls on the Government to apprehend the sad situation that is prevailing. It is time to end the tug of war!”
It is the position of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), that National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) are engaged in a stand-off that could be detrimental to the health of the sugar industry.
A statement by GAWU, from its annual end-of-year press conference, reads that the year “ends on a sour note, as there seems to be no clarity regarding that confusion that has surrounded the sugar industry”.
The union noted that, at the end of 2017, the APNU/AFC administration “substantially stripped the GuySuCo of its assets relating to the closed estates and transferred them without liability to NICIL,” and that the corporation’s shares were also transferred to NICIL.
Earlier this year, there was some amount of confusion that the state-owned GuySuCo had two Boards of Directors existing. The situation left government officials somewhat embarrassed and signaled a deep divide in the Coalition Government over GuySuCo.
The embarrassing situation started at the end of last year when as part of the restructuring, the four closed sugar estates – Skeldon, Rose Hall, Enmore and Wales – were all transferred to the state-owned NICIL.
The idea was to place the assets of the estates in the control of NICIL’s Special Purpose Unit (SPU) with the intention to divest and privatise them. At the end of last year too, the shares of GuySuCo, owned by the Government of Guyana, were placed under NICIL.
It was reported that the life of GuySuCo’s board, under Professor Clive Thomas, had ended, and moves were made to appoint a new board. The government had made it clear that it was unhappy with the previous board, which did not inform them of the decision to close three estates within days, leaving more than 4,000 workers without jobs.
In February, a Cabinet Decision named Colvin Heath-London as the new chairman of a youthful GuySuCo, with the other board members being Komal Singh; Verna Adrian; Fritz McLean; Rosh Khan (jr); George Jervis; Arianne McLean; Vishnu Panday; Annette Arjoon-Martins and two executives from GuySuCo.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon had disclosed that the naming of a new board was on hold pending some clarity and questions asked by Cabinet. From indications, there were strong objections by ministers within the Alliance For Change (AFC) faction who expressed fears over a possible fallout.
It was explained how the situation of the “new board” under Heath-London, happened. A sub-committee of Cabinet in February dealt with the appointment of the new board. Sitting on that sub-committee were Ministers Carl Greenidge, Winston Jordan, Joseph Harmon and Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder.
According to Finance Minister Jordan, it was “decided unanimously” by all the ministers, including Holder, that the life of the board came to an end and a new board would be installed, headed by Heath-London. However, the appointments met with objections when it came to the full Cabinet.
While that was happening, GuySuCo, in newspaper advertisements, announced the names of the new directors.
Despite the shares of GuySuCo being under NICIL, Minister Jordan made it clear that he was not responsible for the GuySuCo portfolio.
GAWU’s President, Komal Chand, said, “The clear confusion regarding sugar was also manifested when we saw musical chairs being played by the Ministers of Agriculture and Finance, with both gentlemen denying they had Ministerial responsibility for the industry. Then suddenly and without any forewarning, the Agriculture Minister announced he was in charge of GuySuCo though no explanation, as far as we recall, was ever provided as to how the contradictions were resolved”.
Chand said that since, at this time, the livelihoods of thousands of workers stand in the balance, and public funds have essentially been mortgaged to secure the $30B financing, the confusion is discouraging. He said that the government has allowed the situation to meet this point, where there is infighting between the two sugar-management bodies.

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End tug of war between GuySuCo and NICIL – GAWU tells Govt.

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