Vishnu Panday, the point person for the government’s resuscitation plan for the Skeldon sugar estate, says he resigned as he was unable to work with GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sasenarine Singh and that they share opposing views on the way forward.
Panday was handpicked in September last year as point person/general manager by President Irfaan Ali along with a small team to create an action plan for the shuttered Skeldon Estate. Reopening the estate was a key election promise by the PPP/C.
However, with different views of the industry, Panday told Stabroek News on Friday that he could not continue to work to fulfill the President’s vision under the leadership of Singh. He deemed Singh as a “misfit in the corporation” and opined that Singh “does not possess the …ability to manage a dynamic industry.” Singh declined to comment on Panday’s statements when contacted by Stabroek News on Friday.
Singh is a Project Finance Specialist with over 16 years’ experience at turnaround management internationally and possesses leadership experience at building capacity in teams. He holds a Master’s Degree in Finance from Lancaster University, an Executive Post Graduate Diploma from the London Business School, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy from the University of Guyana. He is also a Chartered Accountant (ACCA).
“I have tried for months to work under his leadership but it hasn’t improved. I held on hoping things will change but that didn’t happen, so I decided to walk,” Panday related in an interview with this newspaper.
He said that while he has managed to make an impact during his five-month tenure as the General Manager of Skeldon, there was miscommunication on the objectives and goals of the corporation, an absence of a strategic plan for the next phase of the reopening of the estate and little interest from the CEO on how they could have moved Skeldon to a viable and producing estate.
He stated that with the Skeldon Estate factory being a relatively new one, the CEO never sought to tour or discuss with him the future for the estate and what projects need to be done before reopening.
According to Singh, based on his knowledge, the corporation received Panday’s resignation in early November and he gave reasons for his resignation.
Questioned as to how Panday’s resignation will affect the corporation and the Skeldon Estate in particular, Singh said GuySuCo has thousands of “experts at sugar.”
Singh also confirmed a Stabroek News report that former finance manager, Rama Persaud is currently acting as General Manager. He said that Persaud served in the role before and said that GuySuCo has a clear path to navigate.
Turnaround strategy
Singh said that Guysuco is presently “much stronger” than it was 12 months ago. Further, the CEO said that they have a turnaround strategy which was developed in January, 2021 and is currently with the policymakers as they await the national budget.
Panday said that when he answered the president’s call to work with the government to revive the sugar industry, he felt as if he was making a positive contribution to the country. However, he said he was unable to contribute more effectively since there was a difference in views on how the sector should operate.
Nonetheless, he said that he has been able to achieve a number of objectives during his short tenure.
He told this newspaper that when he assumed the position as General Manager he managed to employ 200 persons and re-establish the Human Resource component of the estate along with other departments such as Agriculture and Mechanics, Security and other sub-departments.
“We began rebuilding access roads and work on drainage and irrigation by clearing the waterways. We… have been able to prepare 2000 acres of seed cane and began land preparation for the first crop,” Panday related.
He said that with the ground work laid so far, they were in a position to achieve the goal of restarting sugar production by 2024.
Asked if he feels that his resignation will negatively impact the workers, he responded in the affirmative.
“The workers have been highly motivated since we started works to reopen the estate. One thousand persons have already signed to be a part of the work force and I have had meetings with the private sugarcane farmers and we have established a working plan. But I think some persons’ morale will drop because I had a great working relationship with the employees,” he noted.
In its manifesto for the 2020 general elections. The PPP/C vowed to reopen three of the four estates shuttered by the APNU+AFC government: East Demerara, Rose Hall and Skeldon. It has also announced a development plan for the former Wales estate where the factory had been dismantled.
GuySuCo has been a huge financial drag on the economy for the last two administrations particularly as it relates to the troubled Chinese-built Skeldon factory which drove up the cost of production enormously. GuySuCo has lost the majority of its preferential priced markets which means that it has to target the CARICOM market and value-added production.
Around 7,000 sugar workers were laid off when the four estates were shuttered. The existing estates: Utivlugt, Blairmont and Albion have struggled to meet their production targets.
