Promises and threats

Jan 15, 2026 Editorial, News

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(Kaieteur News) – For more than a decade, GuySuCo has stood as a monument to chronic mismanagement, serial underperformance and political indulgence.

It has also become a testing ground for presidential rhetoric—strong on threats, weak on follow-through. President Irfaan Ali’s repeated warnings that “heads will roll” if sugar production targets are not met have now lost all credibility. They have become soundbites recycled so often that they no longer command attention, let alone respect.

In December 2024, the President publicly declared that GuySuCo’s management had been “read the riot act” and warned, unequivocally, that if production targets for the first and second crops of 2025 were not met, consequences would follow. The message was clear. Expectations were set. Billions of dollars in state funding were approved on the promise of delivery.

The targets were missed.

Not once, but repeatedly. Original production goals were quietly revised downward, and even those reduced benchmarks were not achieved. Costs remained high, productivity lagged, and GuySuCo continued to depend heavily on taxpayer bailouts to survive. Yet despite the President’s dramatic warning, no heads rolled. There was no meaningful shake-up of management. No transparent review. No public accounting. Instead, the nation was treated to a familiar ritual, excuses, explanations, and silence.

Now, at the start of 2026, the goalpost has been moved once again. At GUYEXPO 2025, the President warned that if GuySuCo’s managers fail to deliver in 2026, “we will have to find a new management system.” The words sound firm, but the question Guyanese are asking is simple: what happened to the promise made for 2025?

This pattern of delayed accountability is not unique to GuySuCo. The same script has played out elsewhere. The President issued stern warnings to the management of Guyana Power and Light over chronic blackouts, rising costs, and poor service delivery. Years later, the problems persist, businesses suffer, households endure hardship, and yet no decisive action has followed.

The same applies to the driver’s licence fraud scandal involving police ranks. Guyanese were assured that those responsible would be swiftly dismissed and held accountable. To date, there has been no comprehensive disclosure of outcomes, no public confidence restored, and no assurance that the system has been properly cleaned up. Once again, tough talk was followed by institutional inertia.

Then there is the gas to energy. Guyanese were repeatedly told that  the project would be completed and would slash electricity costs by up to 50 percent. Years later, the project remains unfinished, electricity costs remain high, and citizens are left wondering whether this was ever more than a headline promise.

Leadership is not measured by press statements or threats issued from podiums. It is measured by outcomes. When deadlines pass, targets are missed, and no one is held accountable, credibility erodes. Guyanese are no longer interested in warnings about what might happen in 2026. They want to know why nothing happened in 2024 and 2025 when the same promises were made.

There is also a fundamental governance issue that cannot be ignored. The President does not manage GuySuCo. The Board of Directors does. The Board is responsible for oversight, performance management, and corrective action. If GuySuCo fails year after year, the Board itself should be held accountable. Yet Boards remain untouched, management remains entrenched, and taxpayers continue to shoulder the burden.

At a deeper level, the conversation must move beyond targets and threats. Years of underperformance since 2020 have shown that sugar production alone cannot sustain GuySuCo. Continuing to pour public funds into a failing, sugar-dependent model is not compassion—it is negligence. Supporting workers and communities is essential, but endless bailouts without structural reform are unfair to taxpayers and cruelly misleading to those whose livelihoods depend on real change.

GuySuCo’s future cannot be tied to sugar alone. A serious, transparent plan is needed—one that acknowledges reality, diversifies operations, retrains workers, and redefines the corporation’s role in the modern economy. Without such a rethink, the cycle of missed targets, recycled rhetoric, and shifting goalposts will continue indefinitely.

Strong words have been spoken often enough. Guyana now deserves action, accountability, and honesty, not another warning deferred to next year.

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• and threats, Editorial, GUYSUCO, mismanagement, Promises

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