Dear Editor,
I WRITE today, not to engage Sasenarine Singh since I’ve long concluded he is a toddler-level sweetie stand “accountant” masquerading as a Turnaround Specialist. Rather, I write today to engage the electorate on why the PPP and Sasenarine Singh cannot be trusted with the sugar industry. I also write today to speak directly to our brothers and sisters in the sugar industry, to remind them of the need to be aware of false prophets who will present themselves to you, promising the moon and the stars, with the sole aim of getting your vote.

Today, I will use the PPP’s mouthpiece Sasenarine Singh’s words against him as we place the PPP under the microscope. This microscopic examination will reveal further evidence why neither the PPP and Sasenarine Singh should not be trusted to run the sugar industry. Like the PPP, Sasenarine Singh will change his position to one that will best satisfy himself.
In a letter to the editor on January 2011, running up to the general elections, Sasenarine Singh wrote this, “Mr Granger quoted the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey which disclosed about half of the population is not gainfully employed. On the other hand, the PPP’s Minister of Labour in September 2011 asserted, with official truth, that only 10.7 per cent of the country’s total workforce is unemployed. These apparently contradictory figures have been arrived at because it is the convention throughout the world to record as “unemployed” only those who have officially sought, but have not obtained, employment. However, despite the validity of the official statistics, the sad fact is that, in addition to the 10.7 per cent of our workforce that is officially unemployed, many who would like to work are not actively seeking jobs, simply because they have abandoned all hope of ever finding suitable occupations, while others, though nominally employed, are earning incomes and wages that condemn them to “livelihoods” below the poverty line and exist outside of the official economy, deeming them “part-time employed phantoms” with little or no fringe benefits.

The recommended methodology to more accurately understand the employment crisis in Guyana is to conduct a comprehensive labour-related survey. These kinds of study were the antithesis to the Jagdeo regime. They did not have the political appetite and strategic intellect to deal with these human development realities, so the easy way out for them; guess the unemployment figures.” In effect, Sasenarine Singh had full faith in Mr. Granger as it pertains to the issue under discussion– unemployment. As it relates to the PPP, he described the party as lacking the “strategic intellect” and a party and government that guessed the unemployment rate i.e. lying about the employment rate. Mr.Granger was prepared to confront the hard truth while Jagdeo and the PPP misrepresented it.

Now I will venture into Sasenarine Singh’s sweet tooth area, ie sugar. He wrote this in the very letter, “The empirical evidence for my statements can be found from the army of ex-sugar workers, bauxite workers and public servants who have left their official occupations but have not registered themselves as being unemployed. Instead, they occupy themselves as hucksters, as petty traders, and as small-time entrepreneurs, barely managing to survive and are non-existent on the PPP’s unemployment register.“ What is evident in Sasenarine Singh’s missive is that the former sugar workers, bauxite workers and public servants were “barely surviving” under the PPP. Were these the Guyanese that Jagdeo and the PPP left hungry? Apparently, Jagdeo thought they were still hungry when he recently spoke to a gathering in Queens New York. That’s ok Mr. Jagdeo, the caring APNU+AFC government placed food on their tables, so they are no longer hungry. Also what is obvious from this snippet is that the sugar industry was in serious crisis, with our brothers and sisters “barely surviving,” but yet the “internationally renowned Turnaround Specialist” did nothing. Why? Politically, it did not suit him. Also, he alluded to the bauxite industry which was also in crisis. I argued from day one that planned re-opening of the sugar industry is political and not economic. This is evident in this snippet where the bauxite industry is not afforded such financial support.

Sasenarine Singh then had this to say about his new friend, Bharrat Jagdeo, “Thus it is fair to conclude that the Jagdeo years were disastrous years for employment creation in Guyana. We were told by GO-INVEST that the privatisation deal with Queens Atlantic was supposed to create 180 bio-technology and textile-related jobs in the medical plaster industry among others, with cash investments into the economy of $3.4 billion into this venture. Judge for yourself the track record of this deal that benefitted from tens of millions of dollars in tax holidays. This is a clear example of PPP public policies not driven by job-creation projects, but more focused on ulterior agendas that benefitted a select few at the expense of the many.” So Jagdeo and the PPP were disastrous for job creation then, why should we believe that the very people can create 50,000 jobs now? No need to answer Sasenarine Singh, since it is a rhetorical question and I’ve already concluded that you are not my intellectual equal.

In concluding, Sasenarine Singh had this to say, “We as a nation must legislate to our government that they must never submit us to follow unassailably poor public policies that are driven by economic forces that reward political rulers and their business buddies, rather than the nation such as the Queens Atlantic deal or the “Fip” Motilal deal?” This is painfully self-explanatory.

Before concluding, I do wish to speak to the electorate. Under Dr. Jagan, the PPP was a working-class party but under Mr Jagdeo, the PPP has moved away from its working-class roots and is now a party of the wealthy business class. It is obvious for all to see and Sasenarine Singh said as much based on this letter. The second point is that the PPP cannot be trusted to tell the truth: they lied about the unemployment figures, they promised 180 jobs and never delivered and they gave their rich friends and families rich deals and tax breaks. The crumbs are what you received.

To our sugar workers. This government did not wish to make any of you redundant; unfortunately however, they had to because they were dealt a very bad hand by the PPP due to 23 years of mismanagement of the sugar industry. On taking up office in 2015, this government was confronted with a sugar industry that had no money based on what the CEO had reported. This government provided many financial support packages because they care. The industry had to be downsized because that was the only way to save it. Could they have done it better with the process of downsizing? Absolutely yes, but they had acted in good faith. I say this because from this letter by Sasenarine Singh, who is now their mouthpiece on the sugar industry, it is obvious that they knew that your industry was in very bad trouble. They kept that from you because they wished their poor management be kept secret. Because of this, you should NOT trust the PPP; they are using you as a political football. You deserve better than that. On the contrary, Mr Granger and Mr.Nagamootoo may say or do things that you would rather not hear, but you can rest assured that they are acting in your best interest and telling you the truth.

Regards
Dr Mark Devonish