Dear Editor,
THE Guyana Times column Straight Talk recently commented that President Granger’s leadership on the sugar industry has been ineffective. What a short-sighted perspective. The author mentions that leadership is about the “We,” not the “I” and this is exactly what the sugar industry reforms have been all about.

For too long we have thought of GUYSUCO as a necessary burden, rather than a national treasure. We grew accustomed to constant bailouts and failed half-measures like Skeldon without any real, transformational reform. A treasure is treated as if it is valuable, and if we really valued the sugar industry we would have sought to safeguard it the moment we recognised it was in long-term danger.

The President’s leadership comes at a time much too late to reform the industry. It is his task now to wind it down in the most sustainable way, freeing the broader economy of the shackles that constant bailouts have imposed. He is doing this because he is thinking about the system as a whole, the “We.” The columnist in question, while claiming to represent such a collective approach, is obviously just saying something which benefits himself and the PPP/C.

In the short term, it is clear to all that there will be some tension in the sugar industry, but we must keep the big picture in mind. Reforming now, moving away from bailouts, will free our entire economy so that when we do receive oil revenue, it can be put directly towards growing the economy. Otherwise, it will be squandered like the many, many billions already lost to sugar.

Thus, perhaps we would have ended up with even larger bailouts from oil money in the future if this reform process weren’t taking place now. Instead, due to the President’s leadership, those revenues will go towards profitable industries that will bring long-term jobs. It is time we abandon the half-measures of the past. Nothing could be clearer to the Guyanese public.

Regards
Malcolm Marshall