Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Tuesday requested a meeting with the management of Morning Glory Inc, popularly known as the Anna Regina Cereal Plant. He made this request after an employee of the factory raised concerns over unemployment.
Jagdeo was at the time conducting a two-day outreach to Pomeroon-Supenaam, Region Two and was meeting with rice farmers. He spoke about the improvements in the rice sector and the various investments the government had made in the industry.
During an interactive session held at Anna Regina Secondary School, an employee of Morning Glory Inc, Lalita Samsundar informed the Vice President about the current status of the company. She told him that the staff have been out of permanent employment for close to two and a half years and as a result their livelihoods were significantly affected.
Samsundar, who is the Quality Officer at the factory, told Jagdeo that the facility was forced to go out of production due to the pandemic.
“We raised this issue with [the] President in December he promised for us to get work within two weeks, and it’s now three months and we still unemployed. We are hopeless, we have families to maintain and we are not earning, [and] with the current rise in the cost of living, staff are affected,” Samsundar said.
She further told the Vice President that the School Feeding Programme was the factory’s largest customer and the Ministry has not purchased any cereals for the school feeding programme since the school resumed operation.
Jagdeo then asked a few questions which were answered by the Office Manager of Morning Glory Inc, Indrawattie Natram. However, Natram could not provide much information since the factory is overlooked by the Institute of Applied Science and Technology and the technical support comes from that end. Natram could only give responses related to the administrative aspect of the factory and staff.
Jagdeo, as such, requested a meeting with the management of the factory which is scheduled for today. He seemed quite concerned that the cereal was not reaching the school feeding programme. He also mentioned that the factory was built so that the cereal could be fortified and integrated into the school system. He was also concerned that the staff were not earning any income.
Staff members are currently unemployed and are only called out to work whenever there is a demand for cereal. Over 15 persons’ livelihoods are affected due to the lack of sales. The plant had over 30 workers but some have left seeking new job opportunities.
Also attending the meeting was Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand. She was unable to provide answers on why the cereal is not getting to the schools-feeding programme although the schools have reopened. A source told this newspaper that the Banks DIH biscuits were chosen over the cereal.
Manickchand told an employee of the factory that a survey was conducted and the children did not favour the cereal. However, when the marketing department of Morning Glory was contacted, they had no knowledge of any survey that was conducted by the Ministry of Education.
The Morning Glory Cereal is a high-fibre breakfast cereal that is enriched with vitamins intended to “kick start your morning.” Morning Glory Inc also won two GNBS quality awards.
Morning Glory Inc supports rice farmers in Region Two, as one of the main ingredients of the cereal is rice, which is purchased by the tonne from millers on the Essequibo Coast.
