… as GuySuCo training centre being converted

By Shamar Meusa
ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, announced, last week, that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government will revamp the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) training centre at Port Mourant, in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), even as he urged Guyanese to take advantage of learning and training opportunities.

Nandlall made those remarks during his address at flag raising ceremony of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Four (Mahaica-Berbice), on Tuesday last, where he noted that, given Guyana’s changing economic landscape, there is great competition for space and the country’s resources. As such, he said the government had taken steps to ensure that there was capacity building so that Guyanese can benefit from the opportunities.

It was then he announced that, in addition to the scholarship programmes through the University of Guyana and other entities, the government was set to revamp the GuySuCo training centre and to convert it into a technical institute.

“In addition to what is going on at University of Guyana and the other training centres, we are going to open back that GuySuCo training centre at Port Mourant and make that into a technical school. We are revamping the syllabus at all of the technical [institutions] in our country,” the Attorney-General said.

To this end, Nandlall stated that major developments were expected in the country including the establishment of hospitals, industrial complexes and even five-star international hotels, some of which will be along the coast.

The training centre was established In 1957 to provide young Guyanese with greater opportunity to equip themselves with technical skills. It was recognised as the best in Guyana with the majority of graduates progressing into skilled and supervisory positions in GuySuCo after a period of consolidation in their jobs, on completion of apprenticeship.

Technical disciplines included Industrial Electrical Installation, Engineering Fitting and Machining, Factory Process instrumentation, Heavy & Light Automotive Engineering, Automotive Electrical Engineering, Factory Process Sugar Boiling and Instrumentation training.

Meanwhile, Nandlall said he interacted with a number of people of all ages in various villages across the East Coast of Demerara and urged them to get on board with the government’s scholarship programmes in order to take advantage of the opportunities that are to come.

“We have to educate our people, we have to technically qualify our people so that we can… take advantage of the opportunities that are going to be opened.”

LOCAL CONTENT
And he noted that those were the principles that inspired the passage of Guyana’s historic Local Content legislation; a key factor of that piece of legislation was that companies must employ Guyanese and must allow Guyanese companies to participate in the country’s nascent oil and gas sector.

The legislation, he said, stipulates that the majority shareholding of a company along with management and employment across the board must be 85 per cent Guyanese.

However, the Attorney-General indicated that the law also allows companies to employ foreigners if local skills are not available. And as such, it was the responsibility of all Guyanese to ensure that the local skills and services are there, Nandlall said.

“It is our collective responsibility, therefore, to ensure that there is capacity building and the local skills and the local services are available to keep out the foreigners or else we will have to shut down the industry and we don’t want that.”

In further driving the point of education and qualifications being a necessity, Nandlall used the village of Plaisance on the East Coast of Demerara as an example, noting that while vendors prepared great food, many of them do not have a food handler’s certificate.

“Nobody there has a certificate. So, when the eight branded hotels come and they’re coming within the next three years and they want 25 chefs to be employed, we got the best cook but no qualification. How [are] you going to compel the people to hire you without certification?” the Attorney-General pointed out.

He reiterated that Guyana is rich and ripe with opportunities and so the citizens and the government should work together to ensure that everyone benefits from the wealth to come.