– unaware of plans for relocation
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday said restructuring is being considered at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), but he is unaware of any proposal regarding relocation of the corporation’s head office.
Speaking to Kiskadee Watch on the sidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Farmers Conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, he said, “GuySuco is going on. I met with the management; we had some changes the other day. There are some movements.” He added that he was not aware of plans to relocate the head office from La Bonne Intention (LBI).
Mustapha added that restructuring was being considered, although he could not say when recommendations would be made public. “Not to my knowledge yet. But they are looking at some restructuring to be done,” he responded when asked about the relocation.
Reports are that GuySuCo is exploring the possibility of relocating its head office to Berbice, where most of its sugar operations are concentrated.
A senior staff member told Kiskadee Watch over the weekend that management had engaged head office employees to gather information about their family arrangements, personal circumstances and other obligations as it explores the feasibility of relocating the office.
“Nothing, nobody has been officially informed that the head office is being relocated,” the source said, adding that employees had not yet been formally notified of any decision to move.
The source said the corporation’s employment and labour obligations would have to be considered if relocation proceeds, particularly if employees are required to move to a location more than 10 miles from their current workplace.
The source, who said they were also affected by the proposed move, said they were not involved in the assessment of employees’ circumstances and could not comment on the findings of the ongoing engagements.
However, the senior staff member said that while moving the head office closer to the corporation’s sugar-producing operations in Berbice could have strategic advantages, they saw no financial benefit to the move.
“Strategic-wise, it might be a good idea,” the source said, noting that approximately 75 percent of GuySuCo’s operations are in Berbice, while the remaining 25 percent are in Demerara.
The source added that some head office functions would still need to remain in Demerara because of the corporation’s international operations and its dealings with port authorities.
Further, the source said the more pressing concern for 258 non-unionised senior GuySuCo employees was approximately $145 million in outstanding retroactive salary payments for January to August 2025 and the removal of a salary increase from their pay in January 2026.
In letters dated August 20 and September 8, 2026, the employees appealed to Chief Executive Officer Paul Cheong, arguing that they were unfairly excluded from retroactive payments received by unionised workers, which totalled approximately $900 million.
The employees said their salary adjustments took effect in September 2025, but they never received the retroactive payments for the first eight months of that year. They also said the increase was removed from their salaries in January 2026. “There is some payment that GuySuCo is contractually obligated to pay senior staff, [an] increase in salary that was unilaterally removed from us from January 2026,” the source said.
The employees contended that the decision contradicted salary arrangements communicated to them in September 2025 and created unequal treatment among staff. They asked management to include the outstanding payments in their September 2026 salaries.
The correspondence was copied to Mustapha, GuySuCo’s Board Chairman Jairam Petam, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, Labour Minister Keoma Griffith and Chief Labour Officer Aslim Singh. The employees had warned that they could pursue further formal action if the matter remained unresolved.
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