The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) views President David Granger’s recent announcement of lands to retrenched sugar workers as an “empty promise,” General Secretary of the union Seepaul Narine says.
“This is an empty promise. Since the [Wales] estate was closed in 2016, he had said that they would give sugar workers land. He had all the time in his government to give them land and that has not been forthcoming and here again it is elections time and he is saying that his heart is with the sugar workers,” Narine said in reaction to the Granger’s announcement.
At a recent APNU+AFC campaign rally in Region Three, the president announced that should the coalition government be re-elected, it will ensure former sugar workers have access to farming lands.
“Those [former sugar workers] who want to farm, will get to farm and those who want houses will get land for houses,” the president promised.
However, GAWU, which is the main sugar workers union, believes that his promise is an electioneering tactic aimed at drawing votes for the coalition. “If he was serious about this, he could have put his words into actions but you know it is elections time and he is coming again with his promises. We don’t believe that they would deliver on this because they have not been doing that while they are in government,” Narine added before saying that sugar workers “cannot trust” the current government based on its record.
The Granger-led government took the decision to close the Wales estate following the conclusion of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the Guyana Sugar Corporation, even though there was no recommendation to close the estate. It was the first of four estates to be closed.
It was argued by the administration that closing the estate would allow improvements to be carried out on better performing estates. “We care for workers but we can’t continue to produce sugar at that cost,” Granger recently offered as an explanation for the closing of the estate.
