NOW sugar seems to be the sweetest item on the AFC+APNU campaign list. These people have now come to love brown sugar and they now have a great vision for sugar. But that vision is so clouded in generalisations and downright fantasies that the hypocrisy becomes more manifested when the Manifesto of the coalition is read. I have noticed that Ramayya hardly elaborated on the AFC+APNU Manifesto. He briefly read about four lines from the Manifesto and then spoke about things which were not in it.

The Manifesto spoke about the high labour cost which is 65% of the total cost of production. Ramayya should tell the sugar workers about what the Manifesto says about wage increases for sugar workers. It says absolutely nothing about wage increases. In 2011, the AFC promised the sugar workers a 20% wage increase, now Ramayya is telling sugar workers that they will get a 10% wage increase, but there is nothing about wage increases for sugar workers. I want Ramayya to tell sugar workers which page in the Manifesto speaks about a 10% wage increase for sugar workers. Ramayya will always lie to fool Berbicians, just as he did in 2011.
The AFC and APNU in the last three years never demanded any wage increase for sugar workers. In fact, they wanted to cut the 6 billion dollars subsidy, but this was aborted when the sugar workers protested in front of Parliament last year.
The sugar workers have been fooled by the AFC and now they are trying to fool them again. I will prove to you that the AFC+APNU coalition is not serious about the sugar industry. A few weeks ago, Mark Ross told the sugar workers that the coalition will sell shares to the sugar workers and that they will own the Industry. I said at that time that this was nonsense.
Now I want sugar workers to read what the Manifesto is saying. It says that, “To keep the sugar industry viable, there is a need to diversify the industry to cultivate products more suitable to our bed field layout which makes mechanical harvesting very difficult, expensive and probably impossible.” I want to emphasise the fact that it says “diversify” into products which are more suitable to the layout of the cane-fields.
Then under “Fishing Policy” the Manifesto says that, “We believe that our sugar fields in Guyana are tailor-made for aquaculture. The farming of Tilapia is proving to be lucrative. To destroy the sugar fields which are in fact natural, 10-acre ponds, most of which can be flooded by gravity, to level them for housing is foolhardy in face of the fact that they are, compliments of our ancestors, natural aquaculture ponds.”
If we look at these two statements together we can conclude that APNU+AFC are hell-bent on going ahead with the plan to diversify into Tilapia farming. I want sugar workers to look at these two statements.
The first statement says that the present layout of the fields cannot be converted to make use of mechanical harvesting machines such as bell-loaders and mechanical cane-harvesters. The Manifesto says that it will be “difficult, expensive and probably impossible.” This statement again points to the fact that if the labour cost is 65% and GuySuCo does not convert the fields to enable the use of machines, then it will be impossible for GuySuCo to survive. In fact, the monies given as subsidies over the past years have been used to convert these fields and buy mechanical harvesters and bell-loaders. GuySuCo has been converting huge hectares of land in its effort to remedy the 45% labour turnout, so that machines can be used. If machines are not introduced to correct this deficit, then GuySuCo will not survive. So the use of the terms “difficult, expensive and probably impossible” shows that the AFC and APNU have no viable plan for GuySuCo and will allow the industry to die a natural death. They are not willing to continue the mechanisation process in order to increase production and productivity. They are not willing to implement measures to cut production costs. GuySuCo’s management has been working assiduously to cut costs. They have been looking at various factors such as the factors affecting timing and sequence of operations, the factors affecting the TC/TS, the timing of fertilizing and chemical applications, etc. They have also been looking at increasing the efficiency of factory operations as well.
The PPP/C Government has all the plans in place in order to ensure the survival of the sugar industry. The Government has been giving wage increases which will ensure the industry’s survival without stimulating cost-push inflation. The PPP/C Government has put measures in place and will continue to invest 20 billion into the sugar industry.
It must be recalled that in 1974, the PNC Government introduced the Sugar Levy which was a direct tax on the amount of sugar exported. This tax creamed off the amount of profits of GuySuCo and brought the sugar industry to its knees. For 18 years under the PNC Government this Sugar Levy amounted to more than 100 billion dollars. This money was squandered, mismanaged and used for many failed investments. This money was used to pay wages and salaries for the police and the army and was used to finance the National Service. It was also used to finance the failing bauxite industry. Yet Nagamootoo in Parliament last year called GuySuCo a “black hole.” Carl Greenidge also called GuySuCo a “black hole.” But these gentlemen never called Linden a “black hole,” which has received more than 5 billion dollars in electricity subsidies per year for the past 50 years!
The PPP/C Government kept the Sugar Levy from 1992 to 2001 because the economy was bankrupt and Jagan had to use the levy to resuscitate the economy and the sugar industry as well.
Imagine the sugar industry supported this country for more than 27 years with the levy alone and now that it requires some assistance to survive, the AFC and APNU are not willing to give that assistance. This is what “namak haram” is about and Moses knows this well. The Lindeners can enjoy almost free electricity, but GuySuCo must be allowed to die!
It is only the PPP/C Government which has supported the sugar industry and it is not only PPP supporters who are working in the industry, but these people in the AFC and APNU believe in “collateral damage.” They do not care about the fact that some of their own supporters will suffer as well. So I am calling on the AFC and APNU supporters to support GuySuCo and vote for the PPP to ensure the survival of Guysuco.
Furthermore, the APNU+AFC coalition has failed to say anything new about rice. It says that the coalition will improve the farm-to-market dams and roads and will overhaul the drainage and irrigation system. They will be manufacturing value-added products such as rice cereals and rice flakes for the local and international markets. They will also expand the markets for rice.
The PPP/C Government has been doing all of these and plans to further improve on these infrastructural works. I could recall that Mark Ross and Ramayya heavily criticised the Government when they embarked on the rice cereal factory at Essequibo. They said that the PPP wants to ban wheat flour and re-introduce rice flour. Now the coalition wants to do the same project. In addition, the PPP/C Government already has 33 markets abroad for rice. The coalition has copied from what the PPP has done and what they are doing.
The AFC+APNU coalition had been saying that the PPP/C Government has destroyed the rice industry, but in their Manifesto they have now admitted that the rice industry is the second largest contributor to the Gross Domestic Product of this country. These people are liars and hypocrites. In 1991, the rice industry was down on its knees, it was only producing about 90,000 tons. Today it is producing 635,000 tonnes and it is the second largest foreign-exchange earner. The AFC+APNU has admitted this fact in their Manifesto; yet they are telling the public that the PPP “bruk up” the rice industry. Where is the fact? In 1991 Guyana was hardly producing enough rice to eat! The General Secretary of the Guyana Trade Union Congress had said in 1991 that the ERP programme was the Empty Rice Pot Programme and that children go to bed “riceless”!
Now the coalition has Doerga of Alesie’s Black Bush fame. He claims to be an expert in rice. The man is still known in Black Bush and is still famous for his “bounced” cheques and his non-payment for paddy purchases from farmers. He will be running the rice industry if the coalition wins. I do hope that rice farmers know what happened to the rice industry under the PNC and what Doerga is capable of. This man has the Burnham Touch!
So, beware sugar workers and beware rice farmers.

HASEEF YUSUF