Dear Editor,
IN the back and forth between the coalition, GAWU and the PPP/C, it is easy to get lost as to who is fighting for whom. Former President Bharrat Jagdeo has said that the government is using GAWU talks as PR stunts, but of course he would say that given the growing rift between the PPP/C and GAWU. What was once a happy marriage ushering the PPP/C to electoral success after success, has resulted in a nightmare that is straining their relationship. After all, it seems the PPP/C wants to wash its hands of responsibility for sugar’s failure and blame GAWU, because they opposed any reform; and GAWU wants to blame the PPP/C for not having a contingency plan in place to save the industry.

But they can’t really blame each other can they, because both things are true. GAWU’s refusal to allow reform and the PPP/C’s lack of long-term contingency planning meant that a dying industry never moved toward profitability, and that the reckoning it faced when losses finally became unacceptable to the nation were not cushioned. So it is not surprising that the PPP/C is trying to drive a wedge between the coalition and GAWU– this is the only way they can maintain their currently very unhappy marriage to sugar workers, upon which they continue to heavily depend for votes.

Further, it will be interesting to see the privatisation debate unfold in this context, as this is another key reform GAWU has long opposed, which they are now beginning to accept as a real possibility. Will the PPP/C be able to control sugar workers if they no longer work directly for the government? Will this push the PPP/C and GAWU further apart? With all these moving parts it is important to keep your eye on the ball. The PPP/C is really struggling to hold onto its sugar votes, because it is very obvious it mismanaged the industry– that is the only real reason they are attacking cooperation between GAWU and the coalition.

Regards
Earl Hamilton