The economy of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has been boosted with an injection of $685 million placed into the pockets of almost 3000 sugar workers who were fired under the APNU/AFC Administration.
On Sunday, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh visited the region to continue distributing the Government’s $250,000 one-off grant to the sugar workers.
The money was payable to those who were on the payroll when the two estates in Berbice closed in 2016 by the then David Granger-led Administration.
Some 1830 workers were severed from the Skeldon Estate and 910 from the Rose Hall Estate.
With $457.5 million going to the severed workers at Skeldon, economic activity in the bordering town of Corriverton is expected to reach new heights and with $227.5 million going to severed workers from the Rose Hall Estate, the towns of New Amsterdam and Rose Hall are expected to see an increase in economic activity as the week progresses.
According to Minister Mustapha, they could have sent the cheques to Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for the corporation to make the pay out but he and the Finance Minister visited in order to make a statement.
“We are here to fulfil a promise that was made by the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic. I could remember before we went to the elections the PPP/C made a promise that when we get back into Government, we would give direct support to the sugar workers who would have lost their jobs. Remember before the elections the APNU Government said that sugar is too important and they will not close the sugar estates. What we found? As soon as they got into Government, they closed four sugar estates and 7500 sugar workers lost their jobs.”
The Agriculture Minister said the PPP/C Government will work with everyone to restore their livelihoods.
“We promised to reopen the closed sugar estates and we are doing so. Rose Hall will be one of the first estates to start grinding and that will be followed by the other estates but we are fulfilling the promises that we have made to the people of our country. We are not taking away jobs from people, we are not taking away benefits from people, we are giving benefits and we are restoring your livelihood.”
He said it has nothing to do with politics but the welfare of the people of Guyana, noting that the Party which has the welfare of Guyanese at heart is the PPP/C.
Mustafa noted that because of the closure of the estates, many parents could not have sent their children to school while a substantial number had to go to other parts of the country seeking jobs. This, he said, resulted in many families being broken.
“The entire economy in the community died a sudden death because you did not have a job and were not earning so money was not circulating. Today the PPP/C Government is restoring hope to the people of this community,” he told those at Skeldon.
Cruel, callous and unconscionable
Meanwhile, Minister Singh noted that the decision to close sugar estates across this country by the APNU/AFC was one of the most cruel, callous and unconscionable made by any Government in the entire history of Guyana.
“Thousands of people were put out of work without a single thought being given by the APNU as to what this meant to you and your families. Without a single thought as to what this meant for your children because if you take out the income from the breadwinner of our family you are inflicting punishment and harm to the entire family and hardship to the entire family including the children,” he pointed out.
Singh added that efforts are also being made to create other jobs in the region.
“Our commitment to you is not only to reopen the sugar estates which we have started already, not only to offer assistance to everyone who was severed in such a cruel manner, but our commitment to you is to also create more jobs and a more diverse range of jobs. Many of you who left the sugar in the street had skills that could have been applied elsewhere.”
Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo announced in October that before the end of 2021, severed sugar workers would benefit from the Government payout totalling approximately $1.8 billion.
Lillowtie Budhi, who was severed from the Rose Hall Estate and still remains unemployed told this publication that she was very happy to have received a cheque for $250,000, explaining that she has a lot to do with it.
She said she was surprised that the money has been made available so quickly after the Vice President made the announcement.
James Nicholson, 61, a father of seven who was also severed from the same estate, explained that he struggled to make ends meet after being sent home in 2016 when the Rose Hall Estate closed its doors.
“I had a lot of children to send to school and I was the only breadwinner.”
He too expressed surprise at the timely payout.
Prakash Borrows, 63, who was severed from the Skeldon Estate, remembered the last day at work as being a sad day.
“When I came out and I looked back I knew I wouldn’t be going back there, so it was very emotional and I couldn’t find a job at the same time. It was very stressful for the family because I could not get an income. I did get the severance but after a while, it finished and the little saving that I had, all gone.”
Borrows said it took him almost one year to find a job.
“Because everybody hustling for a job and as old as I am there was no opportunity because everybody rushing for the younger people. I was very happy when the Vice President made the announcement. When he came, I thought he was going to give us $50,000 but then he announced $250,000 so we were all excited. I was expecting to get it next year but as it come now, I am thankful because it come in for the holidays so the family can get some sort of entertainment.”
Ricky Braithwaite, a young cane harvester who has been rehired by the Rose Hall Estate, explained that when the announcement was made, he was elated since he had not been expecting to receive a further severance.
“After being sent home, life was pretty tough because I was getting a hard time finding a job. Things were really hard back then,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Gladwell Matterson, who took a good look at his cheque after collecting it, was high in his praise for both the Government and the Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.
Many of the severed workers had been given a severance payout by the previous Administration after months of waiting. In fact, it was their union, the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union, which took the then APNU/AFC Government to court which ruled that the Government must pay the workers a severance.
Over $600 million was on Saturday distributed at Enmore and Wales to severed sugar workers.
Severed workers from Enmore Estate benefited from a payout of $398 million while severed workers from Wales Estate received $232 million.
Approximately 1200 workers who were severed have been re-employed, with the Government investing close to $12 billion to rehabilitate the industry.
