— staffers to increase from six to 25, says Minister Mustapha

STAFF members of Morning Glory Inc., popularly known as the Anna Regina Cereal Plant, on Thursday went home satisfied knowing that they will receive full employment. Currently, six persons are employed at the factory on a part-time basis. Its total staff complement is expected to reach 25.

The good news was delivered by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who visited the factory Thursday afternoon with a delegation from his ministry. The announcement by Minister Mustapha follows a recent visit to the Essequibo Coast by Vice-President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who promised employees of the factory that operations will be restored in full. The factory had scaled down operations due to COVID-19. The government recently removed all the COVID-19 restrictions.

The Vice-President, who was at the time meeting with rice farmers on Essequibo Coast residents, said that more employment will be created for the people of Essequibo through the factory and the Guyana Marketing Corporation will be providing assistance with marketing of its products.

At that meeting, Mr Jagdeo announced the provision of 800 part-time jobs and 250 small business grants for Region Two residents as well as a number of large-scale projects for the region. These will generate jobs and improve the livelihoods of the people of the region.

Meanwhile, staff members at the factory were very happy to hear the good news.

“We are happy for this, we are pleased and we must thank Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, his intervention was quick and we are happy,” said Lalita Samsundar, one of the six part-time staffers at the factory.

Office Manager Indrawattie Natram also expressed gratitude to the Vice-President and Minister Mustapha for their prompt intervention and for assuring the current staffers of full employment.

Minister Mustapha also said a new production manager will be hired and that person will be from Essequibo. Staffers of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) provides technical support to the factory team.

Minister Mustapha during his tour of the factory was accompanied by Regional Chairperson, Vilma De Silva; Regional Vice-Chairman, Humace Ooodit and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture.