Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha and Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture Khemraj Ramjattan went head-to-head in the National Assembly this morning over the $6Billion in allocations for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) and the handling of the sugar industry by the previous and current governments.
Mr. Ramjattan who opened the debate for the second day said the coalition realized early in its tenure that GUYSUCO was not sustainable and moves were made to right-size the industry. He recalled that the former government doled out $3B in its first 36 months in government to support GUYSUCO.
According to Mr. Ramjattan, the PPP’s continuous criticisms of the Coalitions’ handling of the sugar industry is unfounded.
“But they felt we must like them make what is so unprofitable and a black hole, we must pour money and that is what is going to cause huge problems,” Ramjattan said.
He argued also that the PPP government’s support for the sugar industry is really to cater to its support base and not for profit for any logical reasons. This action he said is building resentment in Guyana where citizens are observing that GUYSUCO although not profitable, is being favored.
“Because you have a certain base that comes from sugar, base support, and that base support you feel must only have the cash transfers and the cash payments” Ramjattan further relayed.
In response, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said the PPP government will continue to provide support to the cash-strapped GUYSUCO. He added that the PPP will never abandon its responsibility to the sugar workers.
“When we invest another $6B, we create more jobs, tens of thousands of jobs we create and we help tens of thousands of families, we put in the village economy more cash and thousands of people all benefitting, not only sugar workers but people who lives in the community and who depends on the sugar industry indirectly,” Mustapha said in his presentation.
Only in December an additional $3B was given to the sugar company to support its operations.
On the promise of reopening the estates, Minister Mustapha said that the process has started to reopen the estates, but it will be done in phases.
Despite all of the money that has been pumped into Guysuco over the years, the sugar sector continues to see major declines in production.
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