— $685M injected into Berbice economy

By Nafeeza Yahya
THE distribution of the government’s $250,000 one-off cash grant to retrenched sugar workers continued in Region Six on Sunday with over 2,700 persons receiving their cheques, taking the
payout total to some $685M that is expected to go back in the East Berbice economy.

Following the closure of the estates by the APNU+AFC administration during their tenure, many were placed on the breadline. The situation plunged the workers into a state of depression as there was no alternative employment.

The money they received from their severance quickly depleted due to the unavailability of a steady source of income and many only held on to the hope that their situation would improve.

In 2020, after PPP/C administration returned to government, the plans to reopen the closed sugar estates began to materialise and in October 2021, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, during a meeting with sugar workers, announced that the government will be making a one-off payout of
$250,000 each to the retrenched workers.

Some 2,740 retrenched workers, 910 from the Rose Hall Estate benefitted from the exercise which represented a payout of $227.5M to that community while 1,830 from Skeldon Estate benefitted which amounted to $457.5 M being injected into the community’s economy.

On Sunday, many braved the rains and went to the Rose Hall Welfare and Skeldon Community Centre grounds to receive their cheques. It was an atmosphere of festivity and happiness among the former sugar workers as they heaped praise on the Irfaan Ali-led administration for fulfilling its promise. Many expressed satisfaction at the timing, saying it could not have come at a better time as they shared their painful stories and now plan for the spending of the grant.

Ava Smith, 62, of Ulverston Village was employed as a cleaner at the Skeldon Estate for 27 years. She was among the hundreds who received the one-off payment on Sunday. Smith, who was all smiles, told the Guyana Chronicle that she was extremely grateful.

She explained that, after being severed, she was unable to find a stable job for quite some time. However, she eventually ventured into a small business where she purchased used clothes from the USA and sold it at the Port Mourant Market.

WILL BE REINVESTED
She posited that she will use the grant to invest and expand her small business.

“I am very proud to have received this and I know I will put it into good use. I want to buy things for my stand. I had grandchildren that I was helping with school and had to throw box hand to help them through school and look at many other ways to get money to support them. This money will help not only me but my entire family because it will be reinvested,” she said.

For Parwanan Lachana, 35, of Number 76 Village, being the main breadwinner for his young family, it became very difficult after he received his severance letter.

Latchana, a father of one, worked at the Skeldon Estate as an operator for 10 years. After the closure, he was forced to do odd jobs around the community to make ends meet.

“It was pressure. I cried and broke down many days because I know this was going to be rough. For months, I walk all over looking for jobs and just had to tek what I get. I work gas station, paint, farm — anything that pay meh tek am just to ensure we had things to eat,” he related.

He said he even became depressed after his bills started to pile up, especially the mortgage.

Presently, he has a kitchen garden which supplements the household. He related he will utilise the funds to clear the arrears of his mortgage and get some items for his family during the holiday season.

“I want to put some to my mortgage and buy some nice things for the house and me child; we struggle hard so this will change our lives. I hope I can get back a lil wuk at Skeldon Estate when it re-open,” he said.

Dhanraj Hemraj, 59, a father of five, who worked as a cane harvester for 30 years and eight years as a chain operator was emotional as he reminisced on the day he was fired.

“It came as a shock. I never expected it but was happy with the lil severance because I thought I could a save it but it done so quick and we struggle a lot until I get re-employ as a chain operator when the Skeldon Estate start rehire.

“This money means a lot for me and my family, especially during this season but we would have already prepare for the season too so this here will go in a corner and stay for the hard season that will come after the holidays,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.

TEARS OF JOY
Kowsilla Ramotar, 57, of Canefield Settlement was moved to tears of joy as she received her cheque. She related that since the closure of the estate, she was unable to find a job and resorted to selling achar and coconut choka at a roadside stand.

Ramotar was employed as a cleaner at the Rose Hall Estate. She was worried how her family would have been able to enjoy the holidays but now they have sufficient to be merry and have some to save and take care of their basic needs. She expressed thanks to the government for the payout, noting that in an instant her outcome has changed from good to bad and now to good again.

Meanwhile, Jeetandra Suril, 43, told the Guyana Chronicle that he feels as though life has returned to his body and is optimistic that same feeling will be felt in the community of Rose Hall soon as the estate begins operation again.

Suril, a father of three, said for many months his life felt stagnant and he faced many challenges in finding another job in order to maintain his home. He noted those were days he did not want to relive. In 2021, he was rehired as a tractor mate at the Rose Hall Estate, which changed his life.

“I plant a garden and do any lil work meh find to send the children to school. Those were very terrible days. Is only when I get rehired I feel like meh body get life again and things can be normal. With the money I receive here I feel very comfortable, it’s like life come back to meh
body. Things were dull and sad for me. I have a next 15 years more with GuySuCo and for that I feel secure,” he said.

WILL ALWAYS BE SUPPORTIVE
Meanwhile, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, in brief remarks, highlighted that the government understood the pain and suffering the retrenched sugar workers endured under the APNU+AFC Government and was doing all it can to bring relief to them.

“It was a heart rendering, emotional experience to hear and see, firsthand, what the callous and unconscionable and cruel decision by the APNU+AFC to close the sugar estates and what it has done, not just at an aggregate economic level, but the damage and the cruelty that were inflicted and what that had done to the individual households and individual families; some of that damage we may never be able to repair,” he told the grant beneficiaries.

Apart from the one-off grant, the government was looking at various avenues to provide employment and other opportunities to help to bring more relief to all Guyanese.

“Our commitment to you is that we are trying to provide some support and help you in whatever way we can but our commitment does not stop at this $250,000 grant and, as you are aware, we have already started work to re-open the estate. In fact, many people have already started to be re-hired in many of these area, hundreds of people have been re-hired already. In addition to that, we are working to create other economic activities for people to be able to find other types of work,” he said.

Such economic activities will be visible in a new call centre, the farm to market roads at #52 and #58 Villages that are expect to open up some 50,000 acres of new lands, the deep water harbour project at the mouth of the Berbice River, the Molsen to Eldorado Road and the Guyana/Suriname Bridge. These projects, among others, the minister said will completely transform the Berbice economy which will also see the injection of $685,000,000 as a result of the cash grant to the retrenched workers that will filter down into the village economies.

Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, was also present at the distribution exercise. He alluded to the many projects being rolled out by the government to make the lives of citizens comfortable.

“We are fulfilling the promises that we have made to the people of our country. We are not taking away jobs; we are not taking away benefits from the people. We are giving benefits and restoring livelihoods…This government, over the past 15 months, has rolled out a number of
benefits to the Guyanese people. This is one of them. That’s the kind of investment we are making so this don’t have anything to do with politics; this has to do with the welfare of the people of the country,” the minister said.

The team was accompanied by Regional Chairman, David Armogan and Regional Vice-Chairman, Zamal Hussain.