SENIOR officials of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) are prepared to engage the Ministry of Agriculture over what they believe is the alleged deliberate sabotage of the company’s agenda by sources from within.

Information coming out of the sugar company is that senior managers and officials have had enough of dishonourable behaviour from a named partner and will urgently seek the government’s intervention in the problem.

The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that the senior managers are apparently at odds with certain actions being taken by the Special Purpose Unit (SPU), the body which was created to aid in the “right-sizing” of the sugar company and the management of its disposed assets.

In a public missive, Corporate Communications Manager Audreyanna Thomas said that senior managers had requested an urgent meeting with their acting Chief Executive Officer, Thursday, expressing growing concerns, disgust and impatience with the less-than-honourable manner in which the management of the Corporation is being projected in certain sections of the media on particular matters.

She said that the managers are of the view that information shared in confidence with their partners, over the past six or seven months, is finding its way to the press, some being sensitive information relating to contractual arrangements between the Corporation, its employees and corporate partners.

“The managers also expressed their concerns about the motives of their partners who are volunteering information on the corporation, its employees and corporate partners to the media,” the letter said.

Thomas related that the managers expressed how professional GuySuCo’s management has been with its partners, but requested that it was time that … the Chief Executive (ag) submit a formal complaint to the Minister of Agriculture to intervene urgently, in an attempt to discontinue the unprofessional behaviour of its partner, and also to strengthen the integrity of the relationship with same.”

The missive said that managers shared the view that if the current way of operation does not improve they will have reservations about engaging with certain partners in the future, given the apparent breach of confidentiality.

The newspaper was told that GuySuCo has been quiet about the disturbances regarding its SPU partner, but has now declared, ‘enough is enough’.
“We are ready to say to the minister that we can’t go on like this anymore and the government must intervene,” the source said.

It was said that SPU’s behaviour is causing managers to see the body as “the enemy from within” since it is believed that the sources from the agency have been feeding sensitive information to the media.

Many reports that would be deemed negative have been published about GuySuCo where the company says the information could have come only from close sources. They involve alleged fraud, matters regarding the GuySuCo board installation and alleged “fat cat” pay for senior sugar staffers.

The Guyana Chronicle was, however, told that GuySuCo and the SPU may be having internal issues because of their varying management styles.
“The SPU is not impressed by the GuySuCo and do not believe they are accountable for the money they are receiving.”