Dear Editor,
Sugar has become very bitter under the PPP. But I never expected it to become this bitter. The PPP’s dismantling of a vital industry was officially recorded and verified in the article ‘Jamaica tops Caribbean sugar output in January’ (SN, March 4). In January 2011, Jamaica produced 22,872 tonnes, Belize 18,283 tonnes and Guyana delivered a shocking 9,806 tonnes. Imagine Belize produced almost double the amount of sugar produced by Guyana. This is the most disturbing legacy of the PPP because the PPP always claimed that it was the master of sugar.
In an era of skyrocketing world prices for sugar this country’s sugar industry is going backwards. We simply can’t cash in on the windfall of world prices because we are crashing into surefire disintegration when it comes to the sugar industry. There are many reasons for this tragic news but the biggest reason has been government as it holds the reins of control. For 18 years PPP governments controlled this industry and for 18 years it kept sinking in a quicksand of its own frailties.
A shocking 9806 tonnes in January can only mean those in the sugar belt dependent on sugar suffered more. The same people who have voted religiously for the PPP. The same people to whom this government did not want to give a Christmas bonus in December. Yet one of the men who oversaw the dramatic decline of this industry is now being nominated for the PPP presidential candidacy. That man is likely to get the support of the man who appointed him as a rank novice to the most critical ministry in a country still heavily dependent on primary agriculture.
The moral of this story is that Mr 9806 tonnes in January 2011 will probably get the nomination, and Forbes Burnham and Vladimir Putin would be immensely proud of the skilful subterfuge to cement power at all costs.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
