Over 500 residents of Wales, West Bank Demerara and nearby villages joined a march in the community on Wednesday in protest at a decision by GuySuCo/the government to close the sugar estate.
Displaying a banner that read; “Workers and Residents say: Wales is Our Lifeline – Don’t Close,” they marched through the streets, chanting, “No to the closing of Wales.”
They were also shouting: “The three musketeers [referring to senior GuySuCo officials] are misleading the government that the estate is in a bad shape and should be closed…”
Residents, especially the housewives, expressed concern about the future of their children. They promised to support the committee in the struggle to ensure that the estate is not closed.
They lamented that they depend on the estate and “if it close we don’t know how we would survive.”
The march, which was organized by a committee that was set up following the announcement of the closure of the estate, started after 4 pm.
Head of the committee, Gordon Thomas told Stabroek News that they are tasked with looking into the rights of the workers and coming up with ideas and ways of expressing their disapproval.
The march concluded at the Patentia Primary School where Thomas and two other members; Mark Khan, the vice-chairman and TA Khan addressed them for 30 minutes.
Thomas, a workers’ representative of the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU) said the government had said in its manifesto that there would be no closure of the estates.
He said too that the announcement, which was made via a press statement, came as a shock to the workers and residents.
He said too that the government did not go into the area and address the residents or provide them with an alternative.
Thomas said that the general manager, Dave Kumar had “promised to bring back the estate in two years. People would see the amount of work that was put out since last year June.”
He said too that Kumar “was doing a great job… If a man deserves credit he must have. We are prepared to support him to bring back the estate to where it was.”
Members of the committee promised that they “would not give up the fight and would continue to engage them (government).”
“We would continue the protest march and would move to different villages to address residents,” he said. “We are hoping that our plight would get the attention of the government and it would reverse its decision.”
Mark Khan, a foreman under the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) told the large gathering that the excuse that the estate must be closed because the parts are old is just “lame.”
He said the “other estates are also old and they use the same parts.” According to him, only recently the pump, sugar boiler and basket and other major parts were changed.
TA Khan, a GAWU representative, in his address, told the residents that the estate had tilled over 1500 hectares of land for this crop.
He said too that GuySuCo has claimed that over 20 concrete bridges in the fields were not strong but that is not true. In fact, he said, the bridges are in good condition and can accommodate over 40 tonnes.
