GOVERNMENT on Thursday made it clear that there is nothing secret about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between it and Trinidadian company, D Rampersad and Company Limited (DRCL), regarding a sugar cane processing facility at the Skeldon sugar factory.
On Thursday at a post-cabinet press briefing, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, filling in for Cabinet Secretary Joseph Harmon, told reporters that “There is no such thing as a secret deal.”
He said all information relative to the MoU which was signed recently was disseminated to the parliamentary opposition, GUYSUCO, and the unions representing sugar workers.
“So, it is not true to say there is anything hidden. Government is not aware that when it is entering into Memoranda of Understanding that it has to have alongside it to witness those Memoranda, members of the Opposition.”
He noted that he sees no issue with the Ministry of Business making public the document, as there is no confidentiality clause attached. Trotman told reporters that the MOU constitutes a strategic liaison between the company and GO-Invest and is intended to formulate the development of a feasibility study for integrated sugar cane processing facility for GUYSUCO’s assets at Skeldon.
“So the mischief about a takeover and all of that is just what it is, mischief; false and should not be repeated or peddled. It is just a MOU to conduct a feasibility study and there is nothing here that signs the assets away, but it is just meant to conduct a study,” Minister Trotman assured.
In Thursday’s edition of the Guyana Times newspaper under the heading, “Skeldon Estate takeover- Jagdeo blasts Gov’t’s secret deal with T&T firm,” Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo accused the government of entering a secret deal with the Trinidadian company.
He chided the APNU+AFC administration for not consulting with stakeholders on the MOU and was quoted as saying, “They claim that this is without prejudice to privatisation. But if you have a secret Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with someone to assess the entity, then you are already giving one person an advantage over any person who may be interested if you decide to privatise. So they are busy working these quiet deals and one day we wake up and find that one of the prized estates in Guyana is gone to a group that knows nothing about sugar or is on middle land without any public valuation of the land, no public tendering but has acquired a deal by the government.”
The Opposition Leader contends that when the government invited the opposition to speak about the MoU in December, the MoU was already signed.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder refuted Jagdeo’s claim that the MoU was signed in secrecy. He told the newspaper that at a meeting between the government, opposition and unions on the way forward, the MoU was provided to the opposition when questions surfaced about it.
Holder was quoted as saying “The Opposition is well aware of it because it was given to them by the Government. So I don’t know what is the secret deal, they have the MoU.”
He explained however that while there is a MoU in place, there is no commitment by any party, noting that the company will come to Guyana, examine the situation and make suggestions to the government.
“They are just coming to look, the best I can call it is a familiarisation, they will look to see what Skeldon has to [offer], see if it make sense for them to even do a feasibility study,” the Agriculture Minister was quoted as saying on Thursday.
