After more than six years out of operation following its closure by the David Granger-led APNU/AFC, the Rose Hall Estate sugar factory has been reopened, with President Dr Irfaan Ali challenging the management of the estate to ensure that sugar production targets are met.
On Saturday, President Ali visited the Rose Hall Sugar Estate, where the factory was reopened only recently. The President assured workers that this was just the beginning of his Government’s support for sugar, considering the important role it plays in Guyana’s agricultural push.
“There shall be no turning back of the clock of rebuilding, under the PPP/C Government. We’re going to ensure that no effort is spared, in making this industry viable, sustainable and resilient for Guyana, long into the future. We’re going to invest into the training of our workers. We’re going to invest into the improved conditions of our workers.”
“We will do everything to ensure you get better. We will not neglect you. Let us not be misguided and derailed. Let us stand together. And I assure you, just as we assured you we would reopen sugar. I assure you, as we continue to heal the wounds of the monsters, we will give you more. We will give back more to the workers,” President Ali said.
Meanwhile, the President had serious words for the management of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sasenarine Singh, who was present, reminding them of the importance of meeting their targets.
“We shall not fail… before the setting of the sun, we shall surpass our last year production. And I already told Sase, notwithstanding his kind words in introducing us, that if we don’t meet the target, his neck is on the line,” the President said, to chuckles in the crowd.
“We’re together on this. This is no easy task to rebuild. When the first set of videos and photographs came to Cabinet on what we’re inheriting, there was a deafening silence in the room. To see punts that we spent billions of dollars on, left in the fields to rot. Once beautiful green fields, converted into forests.”
President Ali expressed regret that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has not spent more time telling the story of what the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government left for them to inherit. However, he noted that his Government has been preoccupied with repairing the damage.
“Because we’re busy, advancing the work of the people and the Government. We did not spend time to educate the population on what we inherited. That is why a bunch of monsters, who trampled upon the industry, are trying to redefine the industry. Your hearts and conscience must be the guide on this narrative,” President Ali informed the workers gathered.
The Rose Hall estate factory, which closed down since 2017, was recently reopened and commenced grinding. As of the end of September 2023, the estate has produced in excess of 130 tonnes of sugar. According to President Ali, they are developing close to 4000 hectares of cane to be processed at the Rose Hall factory.
“Since 2021, approximately 2150 hectares of land is in cane. Oh, how sweet is sugar. I thank the workers, the union, the staff. But there’s still greater work ahead of us… 40 per cent of this, 1400 hectares of land today, remain with overgrown bush. More like forest. That we have to find money to clear, reorganise and put back into production.”
“This is the difference between a Government that abandons land and people and a Government that sticks with people and converts abandoned land into productive land,” the President further said.
The PPP/C, while in Opposition, had promised that should it be successful at the 2020 elections it would reopen the closed Rose Hall Sugar Estate. Last month as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) was preparing to reopen the estate, it had invited harvesters from both the Rose Hall and Albion Sugar Estates to harvest canes at Rose Hall when ready.
However, the workers took to the street in protest, calling for Government to pay them a severance before they harvest canes at Rose Hall. The workers who went on strike were those who were transferred from the Rose Hall Estate when it was closed in January 2017.
When the estate was closed, there were some 2500 workers at the Rose Hall Estate, 1181 of whom were retrenched, while the remainder were transferred to Blairmont and Albion Estates.
GuySuCo subsequently issued a statement saying that the workers were no longer required to go to Rose Hall and work.
