THE sugar industry is currently in an economically volatile state. This is largely because of the PNC Government’s appropriation of billions of dollars from that industry to fund other state-run institutions (at that time) – including the bauxite industry, the joint services and para-military organisations, the Public Service, et cetera; and the EU price restructuring.

During that time of absolute corruption by state officials, those friendly to the PNC hierarchy were handsomely rewarded with large swaths of land, especially in the hinterland regions, as well as other state properties and immeasurable and unquantifiable benefits funded by the treasury.

Today, those so rewarded are eager to restore the PNC to the seat of power so that the goodies can continue to flow into their bottomless coffers, now depleted somewhat because the PNC largesse stopped abruptly post 1992 elections.
The fallacious pronouncements and prognostications of the ilk of Stanley Ming and Tony Vieira on any issue are therefore suspect, especially their analyses of the sugar industry and their denouncement of Government’s efforts to sustain and restore viability to that sector, which is a painful work in progress.

The current PPP/C administration has made clear its intent on restoring the viability of the sugar industry because the lives and livelihoods of thousands of families depend on the jobs provided by that embattled industry.
According to Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, “Ming’s call to close the sugar industry is another wild, vile and wicked attack on the sugar industry and those who work in the industry. But this call is also an anti-Guyana call. The only persons who will support the call for closure of the sugar industry are those who have no idea on the importance of sugar in the fabric of the development story of our country.”

Mr. Ming was unequivocally out of his league when he attempted to talk about sugar. Dr Ramsammy recalled that, as Minister of Agriculture, he is deeply disturbed at the fact that the Opposition uses people like Mr. Ming to sound out their position on political matters.

“Today, I am demanding that APNU+AFC state their position on sugar. They must not speak with forked tongues – they must be clear to the Guyanese people and to the sugar workers,” he said.

Dr Ramsammy noted that when the APNU+AFC refused to provide vital support to GuySuCo, they showed disdain to the sugar workers and they betrayed Guyana.
He stated: “Today, it is another chance for them to be clear – will you close the sugar industry? Are you willing to say that Tony Vieira previously, and now Stanley Ming do not represent the position of APNU+AFC? No ‘ands, ifs or buts’. We want a clear answer. The PPP/C will do whatever is necessary to ensure that sugar sustains its importance in Guyana and we will expand sugar for it to continue to play a crucial role in Guyana’s economy and social welfare development. We will invest whatever we need to ensure a strong sugar industry. The PPP/C has no ‘ands, if, and buts’ when it comes to the sugar industry.”
Dr Ramsammy also made it clear that the PPP/C Government continues to treat sugar as an indispensable part of the economy and social welfare of our people.

“We see sugar as ‘too big to fail’, a position taken by Cheddi Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo, Donald Ramotar and various Ministers of Agriculture of the PPP/C,” he said.

Ramsammy noted that throughout his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, during one of the very difficult periods for the sugar industry, as it tries to position itself against global circumstances unfavourable for sugar, he has maintained a position consistent with the PPP/C’s position – “we must take all initiatives and facilitate the sustainability and expansion of sugar in Guyana.”

APNU in March 2014 held a press conference hosted by Mr. Joe Harmon and Mr. Tony Vieira. At that Press Conference hosted at APNU’s headquarters, Mr. Vieira insisted that the only sensible thing to do is close the sugar industry. Today, almost exactly one year later, another activist of APNU, Mr. Stanley Ming, a former PNC MP, again reiterates the call to close the industry.
Mr. Granger and APNU never disassociated themselves from the call to close sugar that was made at its Press Conference on March 8, 2014. Mr. Ramjattan, in March last year, also gave full support to the call made at the APNU press conference then.

In light of all of this, Dr Ramsammy said the PPP/C’s position has always been very clear and unambiguous – sugar is too big to fail.

“We are encouraged that Granger now says that he agrees with our position. But he was leader of the PNC and APNU when a call was made to close the industry at one of its weekly press conferences,” Ramsammy chided.

He noted that during the 2014 budget debate, Granger led the Opposition’s response in Parliament during which he never once disassociated himself from those statements. Now that Ming has raised the possibility again, Ramsammy is questioning: “What is APNU’s position?”

But the Minister’s question is merely rhetorical. All Guyanese know the real intention of the PNC/APNU if (sic!) they win the 2015 elections; and by now everyone is aware that when the PNC/APNU barks, the AFC wags its tail.

The PNC has never supported the rice and sugar industries, on the assumption that PPP supporters earn their livelihoods from these two vital sectors to the national socio-economic fabric. History will record that these two industries hit their lowest production graphs under the PNC administrative prowess (sic!). Under the tenure of the dictatorship the sectors were demolished to such an extent that beet sugar was being imported from Guatemala for local consumption and chicken feed rice was imported from Spain, with rice production falling below 90,000 tonnes in 1990. Today rice production is at an unprecedented high – projected to hit the million ton mark this year; and sugar production, despite the many deleterious factors – including adverse weather patterns inhibiting the productive capacities of the sector, is slowly but inexorably climbing out of the decline because the PPP/C Government is treating, not merely the sugar and rice industries, but every sector – including bauxite, as important and vital sectors of Guyana’s patrimony and economy.
The PNC and its loyalists once destroyed every sector in Guyana’s social, infrastructural and productive systems and sent this nation’s economy plunging to subterranean levels. The PPP/C Government has circumnavigated those dungeons and have charted an unerring path to an escalating developmental paradigm – the trajectory which is unerringly pointed upwards for every sector.
The likes of the Mings, Vieiras, Harmons, Granger, Ramjattan et al cannot comprehend the immensity of the task – much less implement systems to save any sector; especially the sugar industry, which Granger can only pay lip service to by using the PPP/C’s mantra “Sugar is too big to fail”. This is basically another electioneering gimmick meant to lure those “12,000 Indian votes” promised to him by Moses Nagamootoo.