THE workers who “stood by sugar” during the dark days of the estate closure when hundreds of them lost their jobs and retreated to the breadline, were on Saturday reassured by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali that no effort will be spared in making the industry viable, sustainable, and resilient once again.
Directors, managers and workers of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) were able to meet and interact with President Ali and a number of his Cabinet ministers at the Rose Hall Estate in Canje, East Berbice-Corentyne.

The re-opening of the Rose Hall Estate was among the manifesto promises of the People’s Progressive Party after it was shut down in 2017 under the previous government. The atmosphere on Saturday was therefore rife with hope and positivity, and a renewed drive in moving this particular estate forward, especially in the context of the deplorable state that it had descended into.
“When the first set of videos and photos came to Cabinet of what we are inheriting (at Rose Hall estate), there was a deafening silence in the room,” President Ali recalled, as he noted how equipment worth billions of dollars were left in the fields to rot, and how the once beautiful, green cane fields converted to sheer forest.

“We are going to invest in the training and conditions of your work. We will be first to acknowledge that you [the workers] must get better, and we will do everything to ensure that you get better. We will not neglect you,” Dr. Ali promised, adding, “I assure you that we will open back sugar. We will give you more; we will give more back to the workers. Our sugar workers are valuable to us.”

He continued: “We are going to make the investment to keep your jobs, keep your families, keep your communities, and keep sweet, sweet sugar. It is an important part of our 25 by 2025 plan. I salute the managers and the workers who stood by sugar and I applaud you.
“Before the setting of the sun today we will surpass our last-year production.”

One of the Rose Hall workers who has so far given 26 years of service, Winston Bhownoth, was happy at President Ali’s pronouncements, and shared how after a long time of closure, people on the breadline have finally been given back their jobs.
“Canje will be back on full stream and everyone in this community will be happy,” he posited, noting, “I was out of work for the whole period that the estate was closed; now, there’s a feeling of elation.”
Noel Baker, of Number 19 village, another Rose Hall worker who is happy at getting back his job, praised the managers of the estate whom he said did a lot of work in ensuring that the factory was run efficiently.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha recounted how families were negatively affected when the estate was closed and how President Ali had argued for a social-impact economic report to be done.
“Today is a very historic day for us at Rose Hall. This is the first time His Excellency is here to witness this factory producing sugar today,” Mustapha pointed out, as he reminded how approximately 1,200 workers have been re-employed.

“This is one of the main estates in GuySuCo that is being rebuilt. Hundreds of punts were left abandoned in the field; we have repaired many. The cultivation area was abandoned with bushes taking over; today, almost 60 percent of the land has been brought back to cultivation. Today, Canje is once again booming,” Minister Mustapha said.
Chief Executive Officer at GuySuCo Sasenarine Singh offered that the Rose Hall estate now represents the most efficient factory in Guyana that workers are using to grind sugar.

Recounting the state that the estate had found itself in, Singh shared: “When we arrived here, we found total destruction. There were engines falling off their hinges, rotting; inches upon inches of rust on the motors. The roofs…had caved in, in several places. When we went to the fields, it was bush upon bush; all the canals were filled with grass and weed, and trees were growing in those canals. Nothing on this estate worked, not even the power plant.”

Things have, however, been different lately, he pointed out. “Yesterday, this estate grounded [sic] sugar for close to 18 hours. Everything has been rebuilt.”
Also attending the meeting at Rose Hall with President Ali were Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, Housing Minister Collin Croal; Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson; Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, and Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Anand Persaud.