A MOTION presented by the parliamentary opposition on Thursday asking for the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to be sent to the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services was outvoted by government, with Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder stating that the time for that has long passed.

Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Bishop Juan Edghill, presented the motion on behalf of Chairman of the Economic Services Committee (ESC) Irfaan Ali. However, despite his arguments in support of the call, a rebuttal by Minister Holder concreted government’s decision.

According to the Agriculture Minister, the CoI report which was laid in the National Assembly in December 2015, laid out that while the amalgamation of sugar estates for the purpose of efficiency should continue, it did not recommend the closure of estates at this time. He said this fact was not considered in the arguments put forward by the opposition MP.

He added that the inquiry had also recommended that the industry be totally divested within a three-year period. He spoke too of the recommendations coming out of the Task Force which was established back in June 2016. Minister Holder reminded the House that all documents relating to the sugar corporation, including the GuySuCo CoI report and the State Paper are all public records. “We have shared information. We have held meetings, shared our proposals and have given the opposition time to submit their proposals”, Minister Holder stated.

He also said the recommendations of the CoI and the State paper offer many options, “It is the government’s view that the future of sugar is important to the fortunes of Guyana and its people,” continuing that “the good book says, for every time there is a season. But I respectfully submit that the time to send this report to the committee has passed.” He opined that it is a time for the country to move forward. It was on this ground which he stated that the passage of the motion could not be recommended.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who also spoke on the motion described it as an opposition conspiracy to stall reforms in the sugar industry. According to Prime Minister Nagamootoo, to send the report to the ESC would result in suspension of all the efforts to save the sugar industry, including 11,000 jobs.

“This argument, that the committee was not allowed to look at the CoI report has no merit, because I have quoted and I maintain my argument in submission that this report has been discussed in depth at the Committee level and that the White Paper was laid, and there was enough information on the policy which could have been debated, [at that time]. I believe strongly [that] this motion is without merit and does not stand on any premise…,” the prime minister said.

He further described the opposition’s argument that they were not giving documents as “a sham and fake” and that the PPP members of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services’ call for a full cessation of GuySuCo’s operations as a ploy for political ambition.

“The opposition wants to hold up the work of GuySuCo. Hold up the work of the government. Hold up the efforts being made to save the jobs of sugar workers. Hold up the payment of severance, to frustrate the workers and to capitalise on their needs, their grief and capitalise on a situation no one wants to happen, for political ambitions,” he emphasised.

The Leader of the Government’s side of the House added that the opposition can only resort to divisive tactics to create mass confusion, disenchantment and to frustrate all the efforts to rescue the sugar industry.

“The truth shall be known about the sugar industry and I shall speak these truths whenever I stand on my feet about the sugar industry, and to show that GAWU (Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union) as a handler is trying to put the industry in a no-win situation, so that it can serve its own purpose in frustrating the workers and capitalising on them,” the prime minister concluded.