PNCR General Secretary Sherwin Benjamin says that President Irfaan Ali’s invitation to the GAWU to assume management of a sugar estate “must rank among the most infantile and irresponsible statements ever made by a Head of State on the future of one of Guyana’s most important industries”.
In a statement yesterday, Benjamin said “At the very moment when the President himself publicly admits that GuySuCo continues to fail to achieve its production targets, he seeks to transfer responsibility from the Government and GuySuCo’s management to a trade union”. The President made the appeal to GAWU at the recent Enmore Martyrs Day event.
Benjamin said that the Guyanese people must ask a simple question: if the Government cannot manage an industry into which it has poured tens of billions of dollars, why does it believe a trade union should be responsible for rectifying its failures?
“The proposal is even more absurd when viewed in its proper political context. The historical relationship between the PPP and GAWU is neither secret nor accidental. For decades, the two organizations have enjoyed a close political association. Former GAWU President Komal Chand served as a PPP Member of Parliament, and the current GAWU President, Seepaul Narine, has repeatedly and publicly praised the PPP Government and its policies. The President himself has publicly acknowledged the longstanding ties between the PPP and GAWU”, Benjamin added.
Furthermore, he said that GAWU already enjoys representation on GuySuCo’s Board.
“If the President genuinely believes GAWU possesses the solutions to GuySuCo’s problems, then those solutions should already be informing the corporation’s strategic direction through existing governance structures”, Benjamin added.
The fundamental problem facing GuySuCo, he said, is not estate management but Government management.
“For more than three decades successive PPP administrations have known that the preferential European sugar market and guaranteed prices would not last forever. The decline of those arrangements was foreseeable from the early 1990s. Instead of aggressively preparing GuySuCo for a competitive global market, the Government failed to undertake the necessary transformation”, Benjamin charged.
The General Secretary said that the PNC administration understood the need for diversification and sought to broaden the economic base of sugar communities through initiatives such as dairy production and other complementary agricultural activities.
At the same time, he said that the PPP invested billions of dollars in projects such as the Skeldon sugar factory and Enmore packaging plant, both of which became notorious for delays, cost overruns, operational challenges and underperformance.
Benjamin asserted that the industry requires a comprehensive study of cane varieties to determine which strains provide the highest yield per hectare, the greatest sugar content and the best resistance to pests and changing climatic conditions. Productivity per hectare must become a national priority.
Equally important is the full commercial utilization of sugar by-products, he said.
“Bagasse should not be treated as waste. It can be used in the manufacture of cardboard, packaging materials and paper products. Ethanol production should be expanded to create additional revenue streams. Molasses and other derivatives must be commercially exploited. The extensive drainage and irrigation networks that traverse the sugar estates can be integrated into aquaculture and fish farming operations, creating additional income and employment opportunities”, Benjamin argued.
He said what is most troubling is that the Government has now been in office for six years since returning to power in 2020 and continues to search for answers.
“Only last year, President Ali was speaking about transforming GuySuCo into a diversified agricultural and agro-processing hub. Today he is challenging a trade union to manage an estate. The inconsistency reflects a Government that remains uncertain about the direction of the industry despite years of promises and billions in expenditure”, Benjamin said.
He posited that APNU in its 2025 Elections Manifesto outlined a comprehensive development plan for the sugar industry.
“We demonstrated that sugar can remain viable if productivity is improved, management is professionalized, diversification is pursued aggressively and every revenue opportunity is fully exploited”, Benjamin stated.
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