While the future of the country’s sugar industry remains uncertain, any turnaround plan must include the reopening of the four sugar estates which the coalition government closed over the past few years.
This is according to General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, who, during his Union’s end-of-year press conference on Friday, stated that to date, the rationale behind the Government’s move in having those estates closed remains unknown.
The closure of the four sugar estates at Rose Hall-Canje, Skeldon, (both in Berbice), East Demerara (Enmore to Ogle) and Wales (West Bank Demerara) threw thousands of persons into a financial crisis.
On Friday, GAWU once again questioned whether such an action was to inflict further punishment or to perpetuate impoverishment.
“Or, is there something more sinister afoot? We wish to remind that the estates were more than just producers of sugar and molasses, they were the hive of activities for several villages and represented a beacon of sustenance and hope for very many.
Apart from being major employers, the estates’ operation ensured that villages were drained, thus, preventing sickness and diseases and which supported local farming activities and the consumption activities by sugar workers and their families sustained many businesses and vendors.”
According to the workers’ union, the sugar estates that have been closed possess valuable and fertile landholdings.
“Already, we have learnt that the lands at Wales Estate have been distributed to individuals and organisations though there was not even an invitation to allow ex-workers and other interested Guyanese to apply to utilise the lands for economic ventures. We understand that a similar plan is unfolding along the East Coast. This information coincides with the intention of GuySuCo to dismantle the Enmore packaging plant and to remove certain components of the Enmore factory to be used in one of the operable estates,” Narine stated.
As yet another year begins, the GAWU executive emphasised that although the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has highlighted a number of undertakings come 2020, any turnaround plan for the industry must include the reopening of the four closed estates.
“From our interaction with GuySuCo, we learnt that the Corporation is intent on improving field productivity, go into further mechanisation and rehabilitate its factories. Apart from those investments, the Corporation aims to construct a white sugar plant and a cogeneration plant at Albion. There is also a plan to establish a co-generation facility at Blairmont and to expand that estate’s packaging plant and at Uitvlugt.
The GuySuCo shared that it will also improve its facilities to produce more bagged sugar and is examining the establishment of a distillery at that location as well.”
However, despite the plethora of plans that the GuySuCo signalled its intent on executing, the Corporation has repeatedly cried out about lack of financing, resulting in the GAWU also questioning the source of financing for the abovementioned ambitious projects.
In the last four years, the coalition government, insisting that the sugar industry is bleeding the treasury, has closed four sugar estates, sending home over 7000 workers.
To date, thousands of those fired workers are still struggling to find a job. Many of them often tell of the hardship they face to feed their families. At Wales, West Bank Demerara, children of some of the fired workers are forced to find part-time jobs to help their parents with school expenses.
In May of this year, the Government was preparing to sell off huge swathes of land owned by the GuySuCo as part of moves to sell off the several loss-making estates. This was being executed even as the Administration prepared to revive interest in the ‘for sale’ assets by local and foreign investors.
