Opposition party AFC has warned of a plan to install current GuySuCo Chairman Raj Singh as “Executive Chairman” of the troubled company, saying this is intended to bypass reporting by the CEO to the Board of Directors.
In light of announced plans for an overhaul at the administrative and management levels as well as recent comments by Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) President Komal Chand about Singh’s wage package, the AFC yesterday said Singh had no qualification to hold such at the biggest company in the country.
The AFC said Singh “never ran a business in his life” and charged that his position is the result of a friendship with President Donald Ramotar and his leadership of the Association of Concerned Guyanese, which it said is the largest source of party funding from the Diaspora.
It added that Singh has spent his current time as Chairman only frequenting Guyana and not permanently residing in the country in which he chairs the Board of Directors to Guyana’s largest employer.
“…The sugar company does not need an Executive Chairman in its present circumstances,” it said, while adding that workers must understand that the development is to ensure “a bypass be created, avoiding the reporting by the Chief Executive to a Board, which then reports to the Minister.”
The AFC noted that president Ramotar was recently quoted by Chand as saying that Singh will not be receiving a US$25,000 (equivalent to $5M) monthly wage package and it suggested that this was intended to placate disgruntled industry workers, while repositioning Singh.
To this end, the party suggested that the president has re-negotiated a tax-free salary of US$15,000 for Singh. “So instead of US$25,000 per month which would be taxable, it will now be US$15, 000 tax-free. Well if that is not the same thing… At a 30% individual rate, it comes to the same thing,” it said, while calling for disclosure of Singh’s contract once finalised.
The party suggested that the president wants direct and complete control of the company’s management. “This is the sole purpose of the re-configuration,” the party said, while reiterating its call for the board’s overhaul, with a new set of professionals, qualified in the special needs areas of the industry, and without party partisanship.
In January, in response to questions posed in the National Assembly by APNU MP Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy identified Singh, who lives in New Jersey in the United States, as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Ramsammy said that Singh was in daily contact with the Agriculture Ministry and with other board members and the management of GuySuCo and that he travels on an economy class ticket each month or whenever he visits these shores to carry out his duties, and that travel and other costs, including lodging, are paid through GuySuCo.
