–points to failed programmes, production decline during now WIN’s MP tenure as Agriculture Director at GuySuCo
Launching a blistering broadside against the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN’s) Member of Parliament (MP), Vishnu Panday, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, on Tuesday, defended the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s spending on the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
Panday, who had up until 2024 serve as the agriculture director at GuySuCo, opened day two of the national debate and sought to lambast the agriculture minister and the management of the sugar corporation for poor performance.
Lashing back at Panday, Mustapha accused him of presiding over failures at GuySuCo and now seeking refuge in political theatre.
Waving what he called an irrefutable record of decline, Mustapha said Panday was in no position to lecture the House, pointing to collapsed programmes, falling production and missed targets during Panday’s tenure as Agriculture Director, a period he argued left the sugar industry weaker, poorer and burdened by the consequences now confronting the nation.
“Because of his incompetence, because of his below par performance, he received a letter from GuySuCo in December of 2024 that his contract will not be renewed by the corporation because he’s ineffective and he’s performing below par,” Mustapha told the national assembly.
“The board said that he cannot continue because he’s not an effective agriculture director and he has failed the corporation. And that is his legacy.”
Panday, while serving as the Agriculture Director of GuySuCo, was tasked with developing a five-year plan to enhance mechanisation efforts and expand production targets; however, according to Mustapha, not only did he fail to deliver a clearly defined strategy, but GuySuCo also recorded its lowest production output under his guidance.
Following Panday’s dismal GuySuCo increased its production by 26 per cent.
“The honourable member, when he planted cane, he had the lowest tonnes [of] per hectare, 66 tonnes of cane instead of 70 tonnes and more…that is his legacy…the honourable member portrays himself as the champion of accountability, but accountability begins with honesty.”
“He cannot defend his record in the sugar industry,” Mustapha added.
The government has budgeted some $13.4 billion for 2026 to speed up mechanisation, efficiency, and value-added production. In the past five years, the administration has reopened the Rose Hall Estate and improved factory and field operations at Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall, and Uitvlugt.
These actions have helped energise sugar-producing communities in Berbice and West Demerara. The government also changed GuySuCo’s marketing approach from bulk sugar exports to higher-value products and provided economic support to more than 5,200 laid-off workers.
The government aims to convert over 3,000 hectares of land to facilitate machine-based harvesting. They will replace three sugar boilers, buy five more cane harvesters, and build a new conveyor system for billet canes at Albion.
Additionally, new sugar dryers will be installed at Rose Hall and Uitvlugt, along with billet cane feeder tables to enhance processing efficiency.
