RATHER than subsidising the ever-troubled Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO), social activist Ramon Gaskin believes that the money pumped into the industry can be best used to pay off sugar workers and train them to be skills oriented.In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, Gaskin said Government should have a “master plan,” which should include the gradual and strategic closing of the sugar estates and the training of cane cutters to become productive in society.
“Instead of pouring money into GuySuCo, that bottomless pit, take the money, give it to the workers, and train them so that they can receive alternative employment.”
Gaskin, who worked for a number of years at the Ministry of Finance under the then Finance Minister Asgar Ally said, “Sugar workers need to live their lives outside of sugar estates.”
“Free these people from the slavery of cane cutting,” he told the Guyana Chronicle. According to him, Guyana needs to move away from its traditional sources of income that once boosted the economy. As such, training sugar workers in the areas of construction, masonry, plumbing and other skills will ensure that they are productive.
“Come out of cane-cutting! Who told them they have to stay in cane-cutting. Guyana is not competitive. Close the estates one at a time, in an orderly fashion so that the livelihood of the workers can be sustained and they’d become productive workers.”
MASTER PLAN NEEDED
He urged the Government of Guyana (GoG) to come up with a master plan that will benefit not only workers of the sugar industry but tax payers. While the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the state of the sugar industry referenced several recommendations, Gaskin believes that the commissioners failed to come up with a creative and structured master plan.
“They haven’t come up with a clear plan to get rid of the burden on the state and taxpayers,” he remarked.
The Commission recommended privatisation of the corporation as early as is practicable, with an aim to complete the process in three years.
“In the interval, as the privatisation process is awaited, the new management of GuySuCo must focus on basic essentials to rehabilitate the fields, factories and infrastructure of GuySuCo. There should be no accommodation for new projects, which will create demands on the limited funds. This is aimed at making the estates more saleable and attractive to investors, both local and foreign,” the report recommended.
“The management of GuySuCo must immediately direct its attention and focus on reducing operational costs, especially that of employment; returning to basic agronomic practices, rehabilitating its factories, and strengthening supervision,” the list of recommendations concluded.
FAILURE
But all mentioned in the report Gaskin says fails to address the heart of the problems facing the sugar industry and as such, Government needs to take a different approach to reducing the burden on the state.
“The money is available… it is being wasted when given to GuySuCo … with $1B all of it can be done. Just do it one estate at a time,” he said.
“Spending $12B annually to bail out GuySuCo is ridiculous. It has to stop… and it makes no sense. Where is the master plan to end subsidy? There is none! We have got to put an end to all this nonsense,” Gaskin remarked.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said that the APNU-AFC administration will not desert the traditional sectors while stating in the same breath that Government cannot afford to sustain GuySuCo for much longer. “We can’t renegade the traditional industries…but we can’t be romantic either. We will continue to support sugar but it can’t be infinite,” he told Guyana Chronicle. (agordon@guyanachronicle.com)