Months after the life of the Board of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) expired, Cabinet is still deliberating on the matter and it seems as though they will not be ready anytime soon to announce a new body.
In fact, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder told Guyana Times International via a telephone interview on Tuesday that the matter is still before Cabinet and he cannot disclose at what stage these discussions are at.
Holder who was at Cabinet said they could make an announcement soon, but this is the same thing he said three months ago and has said repeatedly to everyone who have sought answers from him.
“We are discussing possible names… I put some names up, they look at it. They say vetting (by) this other person and so on and so forth. So, it’s in the course of being discussed,” the Minister said.
Of recent, there have been reports of an apparent tug-o-war within the coalition over the sugar industry, which is now under the control of a Special Purpose Unit (SPU) that was created under the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) for the divestment process.
In fact, reports had surfaced about disagreements allegedly between Ministers from the two coalition parties regarding the chairmanship and members of the GuySuCo Board.
It was reported early in March that Finance Minister Winston Jordan had allegedly proposed for Head of SPU, Colvin Heath-London, to be the Chairman of the new Board after the previous body had expired on February 14. The purported proposal was reportedly not accepted by the other Cabinet members.
However, Minister Jordan had subsequently issued a statement denying making such a suggestion.
Meanwhile, about two weeks later, NICIL published the names of the new Board, naming Heath-London as Chairman while the other members included Fritz McLean, Komal Singh, Verna Adrian, Vishnu Panday, Annette Arjoon, Arianne Mc Lean, Roshan Khan Jr and George Jervis, with two other names to be added to the 11-member body. A full-page ad had detailed that the new Board was approved by Cabinet on February 26, 2018.
However, Minister of State Joseph Harmon had said the same day that there were some issues with regard to the timing of the ad and Cabinet was reviewing the matter.
Addressing the issue, Minister Holder brushed aside reports of an apparent power struggle within the Cabinet, saying his Ministry was constitutionally responsible for the sugar industry.
“The Corporation is totally and solely owned by the Government of Guyana. The Minister of Agriculture answers to Parliament for what happens in GuySuCo. I am accountable to this nation for its activities; therefore, the Minister of Agriculture should have responsibility for GuySuCo. Therefore, the Minister of Agriculture will appoint the Board of GuySuCo,” Holder posited.
Furthermore, the Agriculture Minister went on to outline that NICIL was a creature of the Government and thus carried out instructions from the executive.
“NICIL is a holding company. It holds the shares for GuySuCo; it holds the shares for Guyoil; it holds the shares perhaps for GPL; it’s a holding company. It is not a government and, therefore, it carries out instructions of the Government… Perhaps someone didn’t tell NICIL their role,” Holder noted.
And while acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GuySuCo, Paul Bhim has said that the Corporation is still operating without a Board and doing so effectively, there have been numerous calls for Government to move swiftly to appoint a new Board, especially in light of the recent downsizing of the industry.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has called for the swift naming of a Board even and has questioned how the G$30 billion sourced for the Corporation’s revitalisation is being spent. He also bemoaned Government’s recent G$50 billion loan hike ceiling saying that not only was it now tied to GuySuCo’s G$30 billion but that it signals future increased borrowings and those plans are troubling.
Signalling intense scrutiny of the G$30 billion bond taken for GuySuCo, Jagdeo said that the Corporation needs an accountability body more so now given the significant revenues borrowed.
“We heard they collected an advance, we don’t know how it is being spent, we don’t know what assets are being used to collateralise it, we don’t know what the backroom negotiations were so we have huge problems with this one,” he said.
