IMAGINE, for the most part of the 23-year rule of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), they have virtually destroyed every institution, with the sugar and bauxite industries topping that list. So, it is mind- boggling to me that the very Party which has done so much damage to Guyana is suddenly making lots of questionable promises about leading the people to the ‘Promised Land’ where there is milk and honey in abundance.

Let us not forget that it was under the corrupt and despotic PPP regime that sugar workers were given the bitter end of the stick to swallow, while both Presidents Jagdeo and Ramotar, their friends and relatives enjoyed all of the sweetness from the cane. In fact, to put it mildly, they sucked the juice and profit out of the cane, and caused the people to suffer tremendously.

Apart from the horrible political leadership, obvious greed, dishonesty, and massive corruption that led to the destruction of the industry, the union (GAWU), with its visionless and outdated leadership, should also be held responsible for making sugar bitter. The President of GAWU, Mr. Komal Chand, an unapologetic die-hard PPP, has held on to that position for decades, while using his position to play Communist-like politics with sugar workers.

Mr. Chand was once quoted in a local newspaper as saying, “I have always stood with the workers. GAWU is a mass organisation; we are not affiliated with the PPP as we were in the mid-70s. I have always stood very firm with the workers; my loyalty first is with the workers…” To quickly debunk this barefaced lie: The truth is, Komal and the leadership of the PPP have used sugar workers as political pawns for the past 50 years; hence the brainwashing of the people into believing that it is only the PPP and GAWU who were given the ownership title to manage the industry.

Surely Chand’s contribution to the enhancement of the sugar industry prior to 1992 should be seen as something positive. However, I do believe that he has lost most of his energy and commitment to the industry after the PPP was elected into office when he became a Member of Parliament, and a Director of GUYSCO, under Mr. Ramotar’s presidency.

Again, when we take an objective look at his direct political affiliation with the PPP government, we have sufficient reason to conclude that he must not be excluded from the destruction of sugar. Don’t get me wrong. I know Mr. Chand, and I like him. But after he got a taste of “sweet” power, his mission changed, all in the name of PPP politics, thus creating a conflict of interest, where it was pellucidly clear that he did not have the interest of the workers at heart.

Let’s take a look at the PPP, with a special focus on Jagdeo and Ramotar, and their cruel treatment of sugar workers. Because some of my relatives and friends have worked as ‘cane cutters’ at the Albion, Skeldon, and Rose Hall Estates, I am well aware of how healthy and “sweet” the industry was under Presidents Burnham and Hoyte. Unfortunately, the obstructionists in the PPP applied forms of domestic terrorism within the industry for political gains, and this served to ultimately sabotage the industry.

Sadly, under the PPP, sugar workers were robbed of their dignity, and their futures were curtailed as a direct result of Jagdeo and Ramotar, who, during their years in office, wasted billions of dollars by paying hefty salaries to cronies and those who could easily be described as “political parasites”.

In fact, greed and nepotism at GuySuCo was never so high as under the PPP. The disregard and disrespect of workers’ rights was never so high as they were under the PPP. Protests, beatings and the teargassing of sugar workers were the hallmark of the PPP regime. Yep! I was there, interviewing and protesting with the very workers who were forced to beg for their salaries, and for their rights to be respected.

It is widespread public knowledge that the PPP has wasted billions of taxpayers’ dollars, not only on high salaries, but on disreputable ventures such as the construction of a building in Skeldon, which is now a ‘white elephant’. Unfortunately, when the APNU/AFC coalition took office in 2015, the sugar industry was already locked away in the Intensive Care Unit at Freedom House. Thankfully, President Granger and his government have seen it fit to ensure that the entire industry is not cremated, as the PPP had intended.

Ok, enough of sugar for now! Let’s talk bauxite. The bauxite industry, like sugar, has been equally important, and in all honesty, it was the backbone of Guyana in the late 1960s, 70s and 80s. As most of you would recall, when the PPP was busy inciting its members to burn the cane-fields and destroy the industry in order to sabotage the PNC, and by extension the entire country, bauxite ensured that all 750,000 Guyanese were fed three meals a day.

Sadly, as with sugar, when the PPP got into office, the bauxite industry was made to suffer in the name of political spite and vindictiveness. Some may argue that it was not just politics but race which played a vital role in exacting revenge against the people of Region 10, a stronghold of the People’s National Congress (PNC).

Also, under the PPP, scores of bauxite workers who protested were beaten, shot at by the police, and locked up, just for standing up for their rights. These hardworking people (just like the sugar workers) were treated worse than ‘strays’.

Here is a quick example: In early 2002, the people of Kwakwani, Linden and Ituni were badly treated by Jagdeo and his minions in the PPP while protesting for their rights to be respected, and to be treated with dignity. The PPP regime not only ignored their concerns, but, during a peaceful protest, some were beaten, shot at, locked-up, and a few were killed at the then Office of the President, in the presence of some top-level PPP officials, who stood idly by and watched as the trigger-happy Presidential Guards used excessive force on the hapless people.

So, in a nutshell, the PPP, with all of its overnight promises for the next five years, is nothing more than pack of liars, as all they have in mind is just one thing: Votes. After all, during their years in office, they took Guyana to the opposite side of the ‘Promised Land’ where there was no milk, much less honey, but plenty of bitterness, starvation, discrimination, corruption, and all forms of brutalities. Hence, without any hesitation, Guyanese should never trust Jagdeo and the PPP again. Never!