$6B allocation for GuySuCo should be directed to training, other employment opportunities for sugar workers- PNCR

Jan 29, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – In Budget 2022, the PPP government has set aside a whopping $6 billion for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to be used to enhance field operations and packaging capabilities, with the hope of reviving the sector, which continues to record yearly decreasing production rates.

Economist and PNC/R Member, Elson Low

This move however has been criticised by the major political opposition, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) which has categorically stated the these funds should instead be directed to training opportunities for current sugar workers and even be invested into creating other employment opportunities for the affected workers.
On Friday, the party hosted its weekly press conference, where its member, Economist Elson Low remarked that the administration should be looking at other ways to sustain the sector, given that even former President, Donald Ramotar, finds the reopening of the industry questionable.
He said, “What I think we should instead look at is what is the future going to be like for GuySuCo, what direction is that organisation going to go in and while we acknowledge that there are a lot of people who depend on GuySuCo, what we would like to see is this $6 billion being put towards training (and) put towards creating other employment opportunities for GuySuCo workers so that those workers can really benefit from an economy that is expanding as opposed to being totally dependent upon what is really constituted Guyana’s past”.
Low, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in political Science and Economics from a United States College, Amherst, added that it is his belief that the government does not have a serious intention for the sugar industry to be sustainable on its own.
“I think that that is a fallacy and I believe that former President Ramotar himself had indicated that the efforts by the PPP to make the industry sustainable were questionable, so I don’t think that that’s a serious argument,” he contended.
The Party’s Chairman, Shurwayne Holder added that he also shares the view that while sugar workers indeed deserve assistance, a broader assessment of the industry needs to be done.
In fact Holder told the news conference “We will continue to highlight to the public what exactly is happening here within the industry and what the government has been doing over the last two years and hope that good sense will prevail”.
According to him, the intent is for all of Guyana to be satisfied with the direction the industry is moving towards.
In June last year, the state media reported that the Ministry of Agriculture secured some $1.5 billion in supplementary funds from the National Assembly to offset critical capital works at GuySuCo. It was also noted that the Government’s financial investment in GuySuCo increased to $10.5 billion, since the administration took office on August 2, 2020.
Later that year however, an additional $3.8 billion was cleared by Parliament for wages, salaries, out-of-crop expenses, as well as a one off $250,000 cash to severed sugar workers.
In this year’s Budget, government has allocated another $6 billion to the organisation with the aim of revitalising the sector.
While presenting this year’s Budget, the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh said that strategic investments will be made at the Albion, Blairmont, and Uitvlugt, to upgrade the field operations and expand packaging capabilities, to produce more value-added products for both domestic and international markets.
According to the Minister, “Government’s commitment to the sugar industry remains unwavering in spite of inheriting a devastating situation that was dominated by the callous shutdown of three sugar estates.”
He pointed out that since returning to office, the PPP/C has shifted its focus to “reopening and recapitalising the closed estates; rationalising cost structures; diversifying the sugar sales mix to maximise earnings; re-engaging previously displaced workers; and repositioning the industry on a sustainable path to profitability.”
The Minister was keen to note that even though it continues to make investments into the sector, it is still considering the possibility of engaging private investors to run some of the estates.
In fact, Dr. Singh noted that this year, in anticipation of improved production levels, the Guyana Sugar Corporation will be concentrating its marketing efforts on shifting from the ‘low-value bulk-sugar markets’ to more bagged and packaged sugar products.
The Minister told the National Assembly that these products will increase from 34 percent in 2020 to 64 percent of total production in 2022.
Additionally, the MP said he was pleased to report to the House that over 1,300 persons have been reemployed with GuySuCo, while another 5,000 worker, who were severed following the downsizing of the industry by the former Coalition government between 2016 and 2017, have each received cash grants of $250,000 last year.