As the downsizing of the sugar industry continues to take effect in several communities, particularly those in rural areas across the country, people in civil society and those who hold high offices in politics in Guyana continue to criticise Government for the move.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, is one such individual, who feels Government made a rash decision to downsize, without considering how their action would have affected thousands of households that depended on the industry for a daily income.
Jagdeo told a recent conference that focused on how the industry could be salvaged, that some G$47 billion was lost to a company by the Guyana Gold Board, which could have been used instead to resuscitate the industry and bring it back to a state of viability.
The industry saw over 7000 sugar workers being retrenched in 2017.
The former Head of State reasoned that although the Government’s continuing argument is that it lost billions each year due to the mismanagement of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), those monies could have been better utilised.
But besides that, Jagdeo contends that Government can find the money to invest in the sector if it wants to. “We can find the money now to afford it,” he told the conference.
According to Jagdeo, the debt figure for GuySuCo that has been repeatedly cited as G$77 billion is incorrect. He explained that a significant part of the money was for long-term debt, personal liability and the Guyana Revenue Authority.
He said based on his calculations, the only real short-term debt faced by the industry was somewhere around G$10 billion. Jagdeo feels that was manageable and Government could have worked to ensure that that was fixed, and that the industry was sustained.
Having been criticised for the Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project, which did not deliver on its objectives, Jagdeo said the fault lies with the company that was hired to oversee the implementation of the project-Booker Tate. He said they simply did not deliver.
“The company failed Government by not giving enough value for the consultancy service it paid for,” he added. Nevertheless, he said that the purpose of that project was to bring some greater level of employment safety to persons in the industry. He had been quoted in various events, stating that the project was aimed at keeping “sugar alive.”
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary also called out Government for the secret manner in which they are going about planning for the industry. He said sugar workers must be properly consulted and brought up to date with what is happening in the industry. He said thousands were caught by surprise over the retrenchment.
He outlined that in Guyana, sugar is not a company, but an industry, hence Government needs to be more thoughtful when making decisions about the industry. “No viable decision can be made without a feasibility study,” he said, noting that it was a political decision.
Jagdeo has long argued that the sugar industry could be sustained and can become viable if more attention is placed on fixing the current problems that exists. He recalled that between 1976 and 1996, sugar made a huge contribution to the Treasury and paid for the sugar levy.
“At one time, one fifth of total Government revenues came from the sugar industry. We carried Guyana for a long period and even after that, when the sugar levy was ended in 1996 we then got GuySuCo to continue to make a positive contribution to the industry,” he had noted.
The PPP/Civic General Secretary also pointed out that it was only when there was a cut in the European Union (EU) prices for sugar, it led to the industry losing $8 billion per annum in revenue. It was at that point that Government had to start looking to begin pumping revenue in the industry.
However, the EU had given Guyana over €100 million as part of the transitional arrangement, which according to Jagdeo, was more than the cost of Skeldon Sugar Factory.
“And so today it is not true that sugar cannot be restored in the future. It’s not true that sugar cannot be profitable. If we work real hard and we look at the multidimensional contributions of sugar to the economy we will through an economic analysis that sugar makes a bigger contribution to Guyana than the subsidy it gets in this difficult period,” he asserted.
Contrary to what is being done with the sugar industry, Jagdeo said the PPP Government ensured that when the bauxite industry needed help, they pumped money into that industry to keep it alive. He said the same could be done for sugar.
