WPA & AFC could have saved the sugar estates

Jun 25, 2021 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Reference is made to Mr. Kissoon’s column (June 24) in which he calls for public input on, among other issues, the WPA and Dr. Clive Thomas’s role (support) in the closure of GuySuCo estates, leaving tens of thousands without any income. I tried in my private capacity with encouragement from and working in tandem with Ravi Dev to preempt or forestall the closure of the sugar estates. We were motivated by an altruistic desire to save the jobs of the workers and the tens of thousands whose lives would be disrupted by the closure of the four estates. Ravi urged me to meet with GAWU officials and to approach potential investors to ‘take over’ the estates in order to protect the workers and save the affected communities from social anomie. On my personal expenses, I flew to India twice and to Trinidad several times to meet with potential investors to save the estates from closure.
Ravi Dev wrote President Granger requesting a meeting to discuss our plan to save the estates and jobs. Granger directed a group of Ministers to meet with him. Ravi met with government Ministers presenting our plan. He met with ministers Noel Holder and Gaskin (Winston Jordan was to join the meeting but for whatever reasons he did not attend). Ravi was accompanied to the meeting by Nigel Hughes and Dr. Surendra Persaud to discuss the Indian investors’ offer to take over Wales but it was rejected by the ministers. We also had proposals to save the other estates.
The coalition government was not supportive of a plan to save any of the estates. And I found out from my meetings with local investors and private cane farmers that Clive Thomas was not keen at having local investors take over the estates or to stop the closure. Clive Thomas was from the WPA.
I did not see any statements from the WPA opposing the plan to close the estates. A few of its members penned letters in their private capacity opposing the closure of the estates without alternative employment in place. But as best as I know, Clive Thomas did not champion the continued operation of the estates. He supported and championed closure. Thomas was chairman of GuySuCo; he could have opposed the closure as his WPA colleagues pleaded or he could have resigned in protest. WPA could have opposed his position. It would therefore be deceptive or misleading to say that the WPA was on the side of the sugar workers when the government announced the closure of the estates.
In an individual capacity, I held talks with some workers at various communities to query their interest in taking over the estates with support from private investors or even with GAWU as co-owner. They liked the idea that they would be owners of an estate or even of GuySuCo through their small joint investments — they would cultivate a fix amount of acres of cane land and be responsible for harvesting and getting it to the factory for grinding. GuySuCo or the estates won’t cultivate cane. The government or GuySuCo or private investors would be responsible for the factory and grinding the cane and for marketing. The land would belong to the workers or as shareholders. The workers would be paid for the cane produced. Thus, they would be self motivated to increase production. Private investors also endorsed the idea. It worked successfully in India and Africa.
At the suggestion of Ravi Dev, I met with Komal Chand at GAWU office to discuss this idea of joint ownership by workers, government, and private investment that Ravi and I conceived. Komal said GAWU had no interest in investing in the estates or in being an owner of any of them or if GuySuCo. He also ruled out workers investing in and becoming owners of the estates. He stated that the workers lacked the funds and capacity to run the estates. I didn’t get the feeling that Komal wanted workers to be owners of the sugar industry. He suggested that I meet potential investors mentioning the names of Komal Samaroo of DDL and a private cane farmer on West Bank, among others. I met both for their interest and to hear he and Ravi’s ideas to save the estates and communities from degeneration.
Komal Samaroo said DDL was interested in putting a bid for Enmore to produce molasses for its liquor operations, and in fact did subsequently offer a proposal or a bid to the government to acquire Enmore; it fell apart for reasons of which I am uncertain, but I believe there was haggling over price and terms or conditions over acquisitions. At any rate, as I subsequently learned, government was not very interested in divesting the estate to DDL or to workers. The government simply wanted the estates closed.
In my very long discussion with the businessman on the West Bank, he was very enthusiastic of the Dev/Bisram proposal to save Wales and other estates. He said his private production of cane was very profitable and that closure of Wales would ruin him. He also stated that he and a few businessmen approached the government to take over Wales but were rebuffed. He said Clive Thomas along with a team from GuySuCo and government held a meeting at Wales on the future of the estate. The businessman offered to save Wales by purchasing it thereby protecting government and GuySuCo of any further expenses. His personal offer to save Wales was also rejected.
I also met with private investors who expressed an interest to take over Skeldon and Rose Hall to save the government costs of operations. They presented proposal to the government to take over the estates, and these were also rejected.
The investors in India bought in to our proposal to manage the factories with workers cultivating the cane as owners and supplying the factories to produce sugar and various by products. They even offer to completely take over the estates if necessary and modernise the factories. Proposals were submitted for two estates. Dev and I had inputs in the Indian proposals. There were no responses from GuySuCo or the government privatisation unit established to divest the sugar estates.
I subsequently requested and received an appointment to meet Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. The discussion centred on saving the estates. He said investors in India and Trinidad showed interest and had put in a proposal; his son in law was mentioned as having some link with the investors from India. Nothing came of that proposal. I also met three groups of potential investors in Trinidad that expressed an interest in taking over GuySuCo or individual estates. They put in proposals, but apparently the coalition government did not respond to their or any other request.
The estates, and by extension jobs of several thousands could have been saved had the coalition partners taken a principled stand against the government’s insistence to close the four estates. Clive Thomas, Rupert Roopnarine, and Nagamootoo had a lot of clout in the government. Had they, WPA and AFC, insisted that the government delay the closure until alternative means of employment were found and or threatened to walk from the government over the issue, the government would have relented. It clearly showed that the WPA and elements of other coalition partners were not very keen in protecting the sugar workers whose votes were responsible for their being in office. Five years later, they are yet to apologise to the sugar workers and the affected communities.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram

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