The goalpost keeps moving

Jan 12, 2026 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

(Kaieteur News) – In December 2024, President Dr. Irfaan Ali issued one of the strongest warnings ever directed at the management of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). Speaking publicly, and without ambiguity, he promised consequences if sugar production targets for 2025 were not met.

His words were blunt and memorable. He said he had “read the riot act” to GuySuCo’s management and warned that if the targets for the first and second crops of 2025 were not achieved, “heads will roll.”

That statement created a clear expectation among workers, taxpayers, and the wider public. The government had approved major investments for GuySuCo. In return, management was expected to deliver results. The deal was simple: meet the targets or face consequences.

Today, that promise rings hollow.

By any fair assessment, the 2025 sugar targets were not met. This is true for both the original targets and the revised ones that were later adjusted downward. Production remained below expectations, costs stayed high, and GuySuCo continued to rely heavily on state support. Yet despite the President’s strong warning, no heads rolled. There was no major management shakeup. No public accountability followed. Instead, what we have seen is a familiar pattern: excuses, explanations, and another shift of the goalpost. At GUYEXPO 2025, the President changed the narrative once again. Rather than addressing why his 2024 promise was not honoured, he moved the deadline forward. This time, the warning was pushed to 2026. Speaking about the sugar industry, he said:

“Sugar is far from where we want it to be, but we are seeing signs of recovery not at the pace at which we want that recovery. Let me be very clear; if the managers in GuySuCo can’t deliver to us next year from the investment we are putting in GuySuCo, we will have to find a new management system to give us the type of results that we are investing to get. There is no shortcut.”

This statement sounds firm, but it raises an obvious question: what happened to the promise made in December 2024? The warning was not about 2026. It was about 2025. Heads were supposed to roll then. They did not. Now, at the start of this year, the public is once again being told that managers will be held accountable if targets are not met. We have heard this before. The language is similar. The threats are familiar. The timeline has simply moved forward. From 2025 to 2026. And one must ask: what happens if the 2026 targets are also missed? Will the goalpost be pushed to 2027?

This pattern goes to the heart of the GuySuCo problem. Accountability is constantly promised but never enforced. Targets are set, then revised. Deadlines are announced, then extended. Excuses are made and the rigmarole continues.  Strong words are spoken, but action does not follow. There is also a deeper concern that cannot be ignored. What if the managers who fail to meet targets have political connections? Would they still be held accountable? Or would they be protected, while responsibility is shifted elsewhere? These are not unfair questions. They arise precisely because past promises have not been kept.

It is also important to be clear about governance. If any heads are to roll at GuySuCo, that responsibility does not rest with the President directly. It rests with the Board of Directors. The Board is responsible for overseeing management, setting performance expectations, and taking action when those expectations are not met. The President’s role is to hold the Board accountable, not to threaten management from the platform of public speeches. Yet this is where the system breaks down. The Board itself is rarely held to account. If GuySuCo misses its targets year after year, the Board should have to answer for that failure. But we all know how this usually ends. Nothing happens. The Board remains in place. Management remains in place. And taxpayers continue to carry the burden.

This is why repeated warnings mean less and less. When “heads will roll” becomes just another line in a speech, it loses its power. Workers hear it. Citizens hear it. But they no longer believe it. GuySuCo does not need more shifting goalposts. It is time for reality to kick in, because the issue now goes beyond accountability for performance and enters the realm of long-term viability.

Years of chronic underperformance by GuySuCo since 2020 have shown, repeatedly, that sugar production alone cannot sustain the corporation, no matter how many targets are set, revised, or deferred. Massive state investments, repeated warnings to management, and constant promises of turnaround have not delivered meaningful or lasting results.

GuySuCo, as a sugar-focused enterprise, is not viable in its current form. Continuing to pour public funds into a model that has consistently failed is not strategic planning; it is wishful thinking.

The government needs to remove its political blindfolds and accept that GuySuCo’s future cannot be tied to sugar production alone. A serious, transparent plan must be developed to gradually move away from dependence on sugar, diversify operations, protect workers through retraining and alternative employment, and redefine GuySuCo’s role in the economy. Without such a rethink, the cycle of missed targets, recycled excuses, and shifted goalposts will continue indefinitely, at great cost to taxpayers and with little hope of real recovery.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

---

• Dr. Irfaan Ali, goalpost, GUYSUCO, Peeping Tom, sugar production

---