By Svetlana Marshall

With sugar production way below target despite the injection of billions of tax payers’ dollars into the ailing industry, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Presidential Candidate, Dr David Hinds believes that the Sugar Industry is at the crossroads, and tough decisions will have to be made. 

Dr Hinds, a political scientist, said after injecting billions of dollars in the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Government may be too embarrassed to admit that the industry requires a “complete overhaul” as detailed in the 2015 Report of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into GuySuCo.

“I think we have reached a crossroad as far as the industry is concerned and the government is not prepared to deal with it. And I think they intend to ride out this GuySuCo crisis until the next election. Because, remember, they depend a lot on the votes of sugar workers, and they intend to not make this an election issue for them, and so therefore, the silence is reflective of that tactical move to ride out until after the elections,” Dr. Hinds. 

Dr Hinds, at the time, was speaking during a virtual press conference today. 

The 2015 Commission of Inquiry had recommended the amalgamation of the sugar estates. By 2017, the former Government had taken a decision to “right size” the industry. 

The WPA Presidential Candidate said contrary to the notion being peddled by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Professor Clive Thomas, who is a longstanding Executive of the WPA, and who served as Chairman of GuySuCo in 2015 – in consort with the COI, recommended that no estate should be closed. 

 Close to a decade later, Dr Hinds said while the WPA strongly believes that there should be no significant loss in employment, another COI maybe required to decide the fate of the industry. 

“We hold very strong to the view, that when you are engaging in matters such as the right sizing of the sugar industry, you had to be very careful not to harm the workers in the industry. So, it was that thinking that drove Dr Thomas not to recommend the closure of the estates. We do, however, continue to believe that it is not sustainable to maintain the industry, in the way it is being maintained with large subsidies from the government. We cannot continue to produce sugar at the high price that is being produced,” he said. 

Since taking office, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has expended over billions of dollars in the industry with no profitable return. The industry continues to record massive losses.

Dr Hinds said at the current rate, the Government appears to be subsidizing the sugar sold on the global market.

“The solution is to make the industry a profit-making enterprise, and not a burden on the government. And, as we have often said, we have to be very careful when we are dealing with an industry that is so rooted in the culture and the politics of the country. And so, there is no one solution, that is why we are saying, we would support another commission of enquiry to see where the industry is at the moment, and to see whether closure is an option now,” Dr Hinds said. 

As of October 26, 2024, GuySuCo had only produced 24,711 tonnes of sugar of the 63,276 tonnes set as the target for this year. The sugar produced so far for the year represents only 39% of the year’s production target.

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has sounded the alarm that the industry is in a sad state and admits that there is need for an overhaul.

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