…slams critics
MINISTER of Agriculture Robert Persaud has defended government’s consideration to outsource the management of the problem-plagued Skeldon Sugar Factory to foreign entities, recognising that local personnel do not have the capacity to manage it effectively. He was speaking in the boardroom of the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday.
The minister called the criticism of late over the decision to seek help from companies in India or China cases of gross misrepresentation.
He said what Government is doing is making efforts to improve the operations and management of the Skeldon facility.
“Everyone recognizes that it is a new, complex, state-of-the art, one-of-a-kind facility in this part of the world. We all recognize that we have to develop the local capability and we require help in terms of developing that capability,” the minister said.
“There are private sector companies in Guyana which, when they introduce new technologies, new plants, they have some element of getting the necessary skills from wherever the technology was derived,” he said.
He said that with some of challenges that may arise, “that is what we are seeking to do, it is not a new effort, but an ongoing effort.”
According to the minister, from time to time there have been persons working at the plant who were from Europe, China, and India, “and it was in that context that we are seeking to look at the arrangement and see whether or not to explore the possibility of enhancing that existing arrangement.”
The minister noted that some people are going down the line without checking the facts. “Again those political groupings and individuals have absolutely no credibility to speak about the Guyana Sugar Industry,” he declared.
Persaud said that when the government moved in Parliament to secure resources to assist the sugar industry, they objected.
“In fact they took the Minister of Housing before a special committee; the leader of APNU, Mr. Granger, several weeks ago advocated the closure of the sugar industry in Guyana, and others within his party have also advocated the privatisation of the sugar industry,” the minister said.
“They have absolutely no credibility in speaking about the sugar industry. They have no interest. They have sustained, with help from their friends in the hostile media, the campaign of misrepresenting what is taking place in the sugar industry,” the minister said.
“GuySuCo has issued a statement; but as Minister of Agriculture, I would ask the public and those in the sugar industry not to pay heed to these individuals because they do not have this industry’s survival at heart,” the minister said.
He said the detractors will always misrepresent any proposed solutions today, or in the future, “and will engage in some excursion that will not be helpful or useful for the purpose of overcoming the very serious challenges that we have.”