Dear Editor,
The Guyana Sugar Corporation noted a letter to the Sunday Stabroek dated January 16, 2022 written by one Edward Burrowes. It would be remiss of the Corporation not to offer clarification on the unproven allegations in the portions of the published letter as it pertains to the brand – Guysuco.
Since being elected to office in 2020, the Government of Guyana continues to inject critical resources into the industry for the workers. In this regards, for the first time in years, the workers have collected their personal protective equipment to carry out their duties without striking for it. Further with the help of the Government of Guyana, all the workers of Guysuco were paid a 7% increase in salary which is now permanently in their pay packet. This is a huge financial responsibility that the Corporation has to carry forward, but you will not find anyone in the Executive Management who is against this 7% for all categories of workers especially those in Band One who are at the bottom of the wages scale. Before the payment of the 7%, all categories of public servants and private sector workers received more wages than those Guysuco workers in Band One. So it is with a sense of gratitude that the Corporation embraces this decision to normalise this situation for the workers at the bottom of the pay scale. Further for some categories of employees, this 7% payout was the first pay increase they have benefited from in seven years.
Between 2016 and 2019, Guysuco lost $60.4 billion in operational properties and functional equipment as a result of the bringing into force of the Vesting Order No. 45 of 2017 that transferred these assets away from the sugar industry and closed four sugar Estates. To date none of these functional properties and operational equipment has ever been returned to the Corporation in a state of readiness where production could commence nor the corporation compensated to enhance the productivity on the grinding estates. It is the Government of Guyana which was elected in 2020 that had to allocate some $13.8 billion to put resources to these projects which included rehabilitating of these assets from a state of scrap towards an operational state. Part of these funds was also allocated to fund the re-tooling of the grinding estates (Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt) that actually generate revenues for this nation but were starved of resources for years. This is against a background where in 2019 the previous government invested only $76 million in the sugar industry compared to the current government investing $9b in 2020, and $4.8b in 2021.
Since August 2020, over $2.6 billion has been injected into the Rose Hall Estate and these funds were used to move the project closer to being 40% rehabilitated as at the end of 2021. The project plan is to re-open Rose Hall Estate by the second crop of 2023 but if the private sector does engage on this project, it would be a welcomed initiative as the Corporation seeks to import greater technology and efficiency into the industry.
Finally for the record at the end of 2021, Guysuco had 7,798 workers including those re-hired at Rose Hall, Skeldon and Enmore. The Corporation in collaboration with the Government of Guyana has re-hired some 1,200 workers who were severed between 2016 and 2019. The total employment cost in 2021 was some $9.4 billion which are funds directly injected into households across rural Berbice and rural Demerara. Using the money multiplier, this payout translates to more than $50 billion in economic activities at a micro level in rural Berbice and rural Demerara. No other single entity in Guyana impacts the lives of Berbicians at a micro-level as Guysuco does.
With the kind courtesy of your newspaper, please permit the Corporation to respectfully present the facts and clear the air on these important issues.
Regards,
Angela Abraham
Senior Communication Officer
Guysuco