Dear Editor,
The December 10, Stabroek News reported that Prime Minister and First Vice President, Moses Nagamootoo in his contribution to the 2019 Budget debate said the Budget “…will ensure pay and continued jobs for all workers inside and outside of government…”. While the Prime Minister boasts about jobs that the Budget will provide in his speech on the 2019 Budget in the National Assembly he carefully and clearly avoided any reference to the serious situation playing out in the sugar belt. As is known, on one hand his Government, with a few at the top sitting in some air conditioned room with the fancifulness of life, has decided to put thousands of workers out of jobs and, on the other, has denied, purposefully or otherwise, those still connected to the industry a pay raise since his Government took office. It’s hard to believe that the Prime Minister forgot about the sugar workers and the affection he says he has for them, as he seldom misses the opportunity to boast about his ties with the sugar workers and their struggles.
Today, as Christmas 2018 approaches, the Prime Minister is now ensconced in the bosom of Government and political power, though it is contended by some that he has none, enjoying the perks and privilege it brings. Today, obviously, he has forgotten much of what he proclaimed he stood for. Just eight years ago, incidentally in the Christmas Season, the now Prime Minister called on Guyanese to “Light a Candle” for Sugar Workers, a phrase he said he borrowed from Rickey Singh whom he reportedly had removed as a columnist with the Chronicle not long after he assumed his high position. At that time, the now Prime Minister, said “[t]he Government would do well also to explore all possibilities to give the sugar workers even a nominal wage increase. Zero is an insult, not an option”. But now with Mr Nagamootoo in the driver’s seat, under his watch, it has been zero in 2015, zero in 2016, zero in 2017 and, so far, zero in 2018. It is an insult to the hard-working workers that Mr Nagamootoo and company has now made zero not an option but a shameful feature.
Mr Nagamootoo, in his now infamous 2010 missive, also said too “…workers were literally expected to ‘produce or perish’”. Now, under Mr Nagamootoo’s Government, it is sad to say that workers are producing and yet perishing. The December 13, Stabroek News reported that the Corporation said “…it is poised to achieve its production target for the year, 2018 of 103, 000 tonnes of sugar…”. The article went on to report “[t]he Corporation said it would like to thank all employees for remaining focused on the task at hand and delivering a successful target”. Though making such efforts and laudable contributions, they are taking home less pay than they did prior to the Coalition taking office. It is instructive to recall that the Prime Minister, in the November 08, 2011 Kaieteur News, is quoted as saying “sugar workers were being screwed”. As we consider past utterances with today’s actions, we are reminded that Bob Marley, famously and correctly said, “Who the cap fit, let them wear it”.
Regarding the minimization of sugar, the Prime Minister reportedly said, according to DPI, that the Cabinet spent “days, weeks and months agonizing on how to deal with the tragedy of the sugar industry”. He also says the Government “interest was to save it”. Mr Nagamootoo in his 2012 Budget debate contribution said on the sugar industry “…I crave your indulgence very quickly, there is no easy fix. The time for a new governance mechanism is now, not tomorrow, not in the future, not in the next 5 years. It must not depend on whether we discover oil or harness hydro-energy.” Indeed, what has happened to those lofty demands? Is it a case of the Prime Minister putting on a stage show in the National Assembly in 2012?
If indeed the Government was sincerely interested in saving the industry, it begs the question why didn’t they? Certainly, the industry was not beyond the point of redemption. The Sugar CoI, which the Prime Minister referred to in his contribution, pointed the way to safeguard and make sugar viable. Some of those very suggestions were reiterated when GAWU provided its submission to the Government on February 17, last year. So far, the Administration has never said our suggestions were not viable. But then again how could they when they say they will do the very same thing. Glaringly it demonstrates that this agony, Mr Nagamootoo said the Government endured was just playing to the crowd, as his Government’s actions are vastly different.
But in seeking to give credence to the Government’s position, Mr Nagamootoo, unashamedly, said “[i]t had become unsustainable to operate the sugar industry without bringing the entire economy down!”. Though several persons, as well as GAWU, have pointed out such statements belong in a world of fiction, the erstwhile ally of the sugar workers continues to repeat it. As renowned Guyanese reggae artist Natural Black poignantly said, it is clear the Prime Minister and cohorts, are “Far from reality”. The fact remains, the state support to the sugar industry represented just 3 per cent of the Administration’s aggregate expenditure, that is hardly sufficient to create the conditions for economic collapse. On that note if Mr Nagamootoo, is so concerned about an economic collapse – as he should be – he should look at the sliding levels of foreign reserves; the mounting Central Government overdraft at the Bank of Guyana; the high budget deficits and the borrowing associated with filling those holes; the state of play in our economic sectors; increasing unemployment and lower consumption are just but a few of the ugly features of our times he should pay attention to. Those matters, among others, are telltale signs that could snowball into an avalanche to bring the economy down.
Our Union was indeed surprised to see the Prime Minister, as he pledged subservience, say “…a feasibility study done in 2000 concerning the sugar industry which showed that the ‘estate should be concentrated in the East Berbice where it is better suited for cane cultivation’”. While a LMC study around that period had recommended such an approach, the then Government disagreed and with GuySuCo presented a plan, which was accepted by the World Bank and the other international financial institutions, to retain the Demerara Estates. Undoubtedly, part of that plan led to the construction of the Enmore packaging plant; the conversion of land for mechanization and the studies for the construction of co-generation plants, among other things. We should add that had the international institutions not found the plan feasible, their support to the Skeldon project would have been withheld. For us it is disingenuous for the Prime Minister to make reference to a now 18-year old study without speaking about what transpired in the aftermath.
But we also found it ironic that the Prime Minister who is now espousing that the East Berbice Estates should have been retained, participated actively in the decisions which saw the closure of two estates in that region. We also found it strange that prior to now, the Prime Minister had not mentioned this study. Certainly, he was aware of it when he was serenading sugar workers with melodious promises of 20 per cent increase; no closure of estates and so on as he sought to win their support. It certainly demonstrates, once again, this so-called ‘friend of the sugar workers’ was speaking with a forked tongue and was clearly aimed at vote-getting at all costs and consequence.
The Prime Minister, in his address, said “…alternatives were made available for the retrenched workers and government was prepared to pay workers their severance but… [the] Guyana Agriculture Workers’ Union ….stopped the process from going forward”. It seems Mr Nagamootoo was imagining things. The Prime Minister is again “far from reality” and it seems he doesn’t think out his statements before making them as he would see the irrationality in them. Nevertheless, we wonder what these alternatives he speaks of are. Is it the short courses in dress-making, cosmetology, masonry, carpentry and so on which is hardly sufficient to make attendees proficient in the respective skill? Or is it the promised lands for displaced workers? Simply, there have been no real alternatives for the thousands displaced and for a great lot they are simply living day-to-day. We wonder too where is it that the GAWU prevented the Administration or GuySuCo from paying severance. As the nation well knows it is the Government which denied the workers their lawful payments. And, as the public knows too it was the GAWU that took the matter to the Courts which awarded interest to the workers and handed the Administration another loss at the judicial level.
The Prime Minister also reportedly said “…that the union wanted outstanding payments to be deducted before the workers received their benefits”. Again, it seems the Prime Minister is not thinking straight. His statement is a complete figment of his unsettled mind and it show the desperation and low depths he has descended in seeking to find scapegoats for the callous decision that he and his colleagues have made. We warn the Prime Minister that history and future generations will not treat such a legacy kindly.
The GAWU sees the ad hominem attacks and empty words by the Prime Minister as nothing more than a sordid, futile attempt to find a hardly credible excuse for the minimization of the sugar industry and the destruction of the well-being and welfare of thousands of ordinary Guyanese. Today, as the Prime Minister is enjoying the grand benefits of high political office, his naked attempt at mudslinging has failed miserably and roundly. He knows, like many Guyanese know, that he has been reduced to a toothless poodle and has become a mere shadow of what he was perceived by many to be. Notwithstanding the state he finds himself we wish to suggest that he seeks to give meaning to what he said in 2010 when he wrote “[t]he Government would do well also to explore all possibilities to give the sugar workers even a nominal wage increase”.
Yours faithfully,
Seepaul Narine
General Secretary
GAWU
