FORMER commander of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), retired Brigadier David Granger, has attracted public scrutiny and debate since his selection as the PNCR’s  presidential nominee, beginning  with his now  questionable role in the  infamous hijacking by the GDF  of ballot boxes on the Corentyne, during the 1973 rigged elections. It is an accusation to which responses by Granger have been far from convincing. Now, venturing into the maelstrom as presidential nominee, he is displaying an ignorance of very pivotal socio-economic matters, albeit the critical question of the sugar industry, which  he opined  ought to be nationalized, during a presentation/interaction with members of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association  last Wednesday.  

Of course, the Brigadier is entitled to his view. But such, given relative to the nation’s largest bloc of employed persons, of working class tradition,  exposes  not only his gross insensitivity to the care and concerns of the latter group, but also an attempt to perpetuate and continue  his party’s  dubious dealings when it  presided over the local  divestment programme of the late 80s and early 90s.

He must be aware as to what the primary concern of   private ownership is all about – the garnering of  profits at all costs, with the workers welfare being of last thought. Any such strategy  with regard to the local sugar industry, as advocated by Granger, will surely result in the following: severe cuts in manpower, with its concomitant,  deadly social consequences.  Is this what a Granger presidency would be all about?  

Maybe, Brigadier Granger ought to be reminded as to why the PPP/C government invested so heavily in the Skeldon Project: to ensure that the industry’s  30,000 workers continue to earn a daily bread for them and their respective  families; removing any possibility of such an ill-advised  strategy  a la Granger, that will cause untold  hardship and suffering. 

Politically, such a  proposed plan is not only anti-worker and  asinine, but  suicidal as far as his candidacy is concerned.