THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has received another tranche of billions of dollars in transfers from the national coffers, but a good deal of this money is to be used to pay debt incurred by the Corporation.The debts at reference include monies owed as Pay as You Earn (PAYE) for the Corporation’s employees and monies owed the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

Minister of State of the Ministry of Presidency, Lieutenant Colonel (rtd) Joseph Harmon, gave the clarification over the weekend, and sought to give all assurances that former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Rajendra Singh, whose contract was terminated this past week, will have to provide answers and account for the state of affairs of the industry’s finances.
REPLACEMENTS
Minister Harmon held a special briefing over the weekend at the Ministry of the Presidency, New Garden Street and also confirmed that two former executives of the sugar corporation, Paul Bhim and Errol Hanoman, have been recommended to Cabinet to head the Interim Management Committee (IMC) that has been put in place.
On Wednesday last, the Corporation’s CEO, Dr Raj Singh, was fired from the helm of the industry, while the entire Board of Directors were asked to tender their resignations with immediate effect.
Minister Harmon told media operatives the Cabinet Counsel of Ministers had decided on the formation of a Cabinet sub-committee to be headed by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo when it met recently.
That sub-committee has since been tasked with a number of critical areas to be addressed.
“One had to do with the replacement of the CEO for GuySuCo; the other one had to do with terminating the Board itself,” Harmon said.

The directives have since been implemented with an interim arrangement in place “that will put forward a plan of action for GuySuCo.”

Minster Harmon did point out that the proposal from the IMC would be addressing GuySuCo’s short-term needs, “and finally, we are going to put in place a full Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the operations of GuySuCo.”
EMPOWERED
He said the Cabinet sub-committee headed by Prime Minister Nagamootoo has been “fully empowered to ensure that there is no crisis in the industry.”
Bhim, the Corporation’s former CEO, had stepped aside last year, thus paving the way for Dr Singh to head the sugar industry.
Bhim had stepped in to fill the void after Hanoman parted ways with GuySuCo.
Minister Harmon told media operatives that because of the way the previous administration conducted the affairs of the country and its industries, “you will always have issues with management and with the Boards.
The Minister accused the previous People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government of complicity in running the industry to the ground.

On the matter of the money to be transferred to the sugar corporation for which Cabinet recently approved, Minister Harmon said any monies being transferred would only be done under a new arrangement for the handling of finances.
He said it was not a case of putting the money into the hands of the same people that would have handled the industry’s finances in the past.

US$30M + ANSWERS
Minister Harmon at the time of his media engagement over the weekend said he was unclear as to what account would have been given by the former CEO, with regard to the US$30M it received as part of the transaction establishing Skeldon Energy Inc.
According to Minister Harmon, however, “At the appropriate time, Dr. (Raj) Singh will have to answer questions as to what he did with the resources given to GuySuCo.
The Minister also used the opportunity to remind of the coalition’s pledge not to shutdown the sugar industry and said too that the livelihoods of the employees in the sector will not be placed at risk.
He said the APNU+AFC government has taken the position that “sugar is an important aspect and the people who work in the sugar industry are important to all of us in this country.”
Harmon added, “There will be no shutting down of the sugar industry, we are going to find a way to make it work and we are going to find a way to make it work better.”

By Gary Eleazar