Dear Editor,
Incontestably, GuySuCo is the largest publicly owned corporation in Guyana, employing many Guyanese and until recently the largest earner of foreign exchange in the country. Unfortunately, things have changed drastically and it is now absorbing the largest share of taxpayers’ money in an industry that is beyond full accountability to the Guyanese people.

Specifically, when the $9.9 billion allocated in the 2010 budget is approved in Parliament in the next few days, it will perhaps be the largest single transfer by any government enterprise in the history of Guyana. This of course is even before taking into account the other transfers over the last few years to cover losses, raise working capital or to finance capital investments. In this same category of concern is the sale of sugar lands without knowing a market price and the offsetting purchase of imported sugar in exchange for the export sale of domestic sugar to satisfy European contract obligations.

Any elected government has the authority to make any of these transactions and their authority to do so is not being questioned here, for the constitution gives them that right.  What however they do not have a right to do is to fail to present the audited accounts of this public entity as stipulated in the constitution.

In fact, the opposition in Parliament or the government has not seen it right and proper to have the audited accounts for some time laid in Parliament or made public.

The Public Accounts Committee should have this as their number one agenda item, and obtaining a copy of the audited accounts of any publicly owned company must not be a national secret. The GuySuCo website should contain this information. GuySuCo, and all such entities, must follow the lead of the Bank of Guyana. To do otherwise is a gross dereliction of duty; and all nationally elected politicians should ensure that this floundering must stop.

Finally, the road ahead for this loss-making industry will not be easy, given that its cost of production is too high, resulting from its low productivity. Moreover, Guyanese taxpayers’ money cannot become a substitute for the loss of the European subsidy through frequent budget allocations.

Traditional donors, too, would find it difficult to justify loans and grants to this entity, given its current performance. Complicating this problem further is the fact that sugar is no longer the single largest source of foreign exchange earnings in Guyana; and instead, it is perhaps now the third or fourth in ranking behind remittances, gold and bauxite (recent data is not available on this ranking).  In this environment, accurate information based on audited accounts becomes not only important to policymakers but to all taxpayers. I call upon all nationally elected politicians to have this  matter resolved before the end of this Budget session.

Yours Faithfully,
C. Kenrick Hunte