THE recent announcement of the move to close the Wales sugar estate has been greeted with strong rejection by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which has claimed that the Government is targeting its support base.This charge is, by now, hardly surprising to those who follow political developments closely. Wales, like most cane-farming communities on the sugar cane belt, is a traditional PPP stronghold; and, as evident in the past two elections, the PPP has shown that it has no qualms in pushing a divisive line to appeal to its supporters.

As difficult a decision as it has been, from all the information that has been made public by the Government — and has not been disputed — the closure of the Wales estate was necessary to ensure the survival of the other estates. But in a politically and ethnically polarised society — where large sections of the masses still give blind support to the political party they follow — conveying to and convincing them of such facts is a difficult thing to do.

This has, for far too long, been a situation that has been mercilessly exploited by some politicians to suit their selfish and divisive agendas. While the announced closure of the Wales estate is a serious matter, and should be discussed broadly in the genuine interest of some 1700 workers who will be affected, it is unfortunate that the PPP has chosen to paint the situation as an attack by a vindictive government.

Though unfortunate, this charge from the PPP is not strange. During the recent elections’ campaign, that party had repeatedly told its supporters that the APNU+AFC coalition would close down the sugar industry if it wins power. What that party’s supporters did not hear about is the corruption, ineptitude, and nepotism which bankrupted the sugar industry and threatened the livelihoods of the workers.

It was also the PPP, under the leadership of then President Bharrat Jagdeo, which had publicly threatened to de-recognize the workers’ representative, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU). Quite ironically, President Dr Cheddi Jagan, the late founding member of the PPP, had at one time served as General Secretary of GAWU. And it was not incidental that the union was in the vanguard of the many early PPP struggles.

It was neglect over the past 15 years — coupled with external challenges — that has today brought the industry to its knees. The decision to close the Wales estate is therefore no targeting of PPP supporters by the coalition Government. In fact, if there has been any targeting of sugar workers, it has happened during the presidency of Mr Jagdeo, as it was under his presidency that the Diamond and LBI estates were closed without any proper consultation with the workers.

Those workers were forced to fend for their livelihoods after they had received their severance packages. But there is more to it; former President Jagdeo, apart from supporting the shutting down of the Diamond and LBI estates, had also reportedly recommended the closure of the very Wales estate that he is now asking the Government not to close.

Back then, heightened interest in the welfare of the workers was apparently not a big issue on his agenda; but now that he is in opposition, interest in the welfare of the workers at Wales has all of a sudden become very near and dear to him.

The administration has accordingly got to take with a pinch of salt Mr Jagdeo’s call for a rethink of the closure of Wales, since, from all indications — given all that had happened under Jagdeo — the appeal can be likened to a farmer who, through mismanagement, milked his cow to death and yet sees it fit to hire a consultant to investigate why the cow died.

This in no way says that the welfare of the workers should not be given paramount attention. A more comprehensive plan needs to be drafted in consultation with the workers, and that plan should enable them to enjoy secure livelihoods when the rundown Wales estate is closed. Now is certainly not the time for political gimmickry.