…says PPP efforts to topple Chand is about Jagdeo third -term ambitions

PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has defended President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Komal Chand’s move to work with the government to find a way forward for the workers made redundant by the cash-strapped Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

Chand has been facing stiff criticisms from General-Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Bharrat Jagdeo, for hailing the meeting as a major success. Addressing former workers and other stakeholders at a ministerial outreach at the Skeldon Community Centre last week, Nagamootoo said the effort of the opposition to vilify Chand is because of their narrow political agenda.

“Retrenchment was not in our will, we inherited that from the past government, they had already written that in for you, that you would be severed, that you would be done. All they wanted you for was to become a voting machine and today they want to get rid of Komal Chand, because the issue of a third term for the president comes up and they realise that the largest block of votes, that will vote in the Congress of the PPP, would come from the GAWU people. So, they want to remove Komal Chand,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo said.

He added that the opposition leader’s campaign to topple Komal Chand as leader of the GAWU has nothing to do with the workers’ interests, but rather Jagdeo’s third-term ambitions. “…and so, ambitions are floating, and while ambitions are floating we have no working solution from the opposition.

If they care for sugar workers they will come to meetings. But they were annoyed with GAWU, they were annoyed with NAACIE (National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees) for coming to talk to us, for us to find solutions to the problems,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo added.

Following GAWU’s and NAACIE’s acceptance of government’s proposal to pay redundant workers severance in two parts, the leader of the opposition orchestrated a campaign to have Chand removed as head of the GAWU. Chand is one of the few long-standing supporters in the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) following the forced removal of stalwarts such as Ralph Ramkarran, Khemraj Ramjattan, and Moses Nagamootoo.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, Chand declared that there was no need to consult with the opposition party, despite him being a senior member of that organisation and a Member of Parliament representing that body. He also said that a “smear campaign” has been launched against him for what seems to be his support for government as they feverishly search for a sum of $4B to pay the retrenched workers.

Chand explained that despite being a long-standing member of the PPP and a MP, GAWU is independent and separate from the party. “We are GAWU, we have our organisation. There was no need to consult with them [opposition]. We do not have to meet with the opposition about this issue or that issue. Our union has members who belong to the APNU and AFC, all the parties. So we have to be careful, we have mass members, we can’t represent the PPP, AFC or APNU positions.”

The trade unionist continued that prior to meeting the government team two weeks ago, GAWU spoke with representatives of the thousands of workers within GuySuCo and a collective stance was taken. “…you could not physically reach all the persons, but we consulted with the representing body, the executive committee. So we had a collective position…,” Chand stated.

However, the position to not report to his political party may have cost Chand some points, since a call for his removal as head of GAWU is coming from his own colleagues at Freedom House, some observers say. It is believed that Chand’s failure to discuss the union’s plans with his party may have upset the organisation’s primary leader(s) since again, observers believe, any sense of stability or partnership between government and the union would spell negatively towards the PPP/opposition’s agenda.