Dear Editor,
I have been reading in the papers that Barama’s boiler has been severely damaged and may take a year or more to be replaced. As a result some 274 Barama workers at their Land of Canaan plywood factory have been sent home. This means that well over one thousand additional Guyanese will soon be on the bread line. Some observers lament that this has happened so close to Christmas.
In 1997 Case Timbers Ltd. brought a complete Japanese made plywood factory to Guyana. This plymill was brand new, as opposed to Barama’s which was reconditioned. It is still being stored in over 500 wooden crates in a shed near Kwakwani on the Berbice River. To my knowledge there is no plan to make it operational. Minister Robert Persaud ought to be fully aware of the reasons. Though the CTL plywood factory has been sitting in its shed under guard for the past 13 years critical components are being maintained and kept serviceable.
Tan Sri Vincent Tan, the billionaire Malaysian and majority owner of CTL’s plymill is not a vindictive nor petty person. He is in fact a devotee of Sai Baba and as such is a highly evolved and a spiritual man. I believe that if the right approach is made to him by the right person he will agree to make available to Barama, through the government, those components required to make Barama’s plywood factory operational again.
However, as evolved as Tan Sri is, he is very discerning about the people he allows near him and would engage with. As far as the Guyana Government is concerned he has a lot of respect and admiration for Mr Ralph Ramkarran and consequently he would be the best person to make the approach to Vincent Tan.
Yours faithfully,
F Hamley Case
