Rubbishing claims of being incompetent and unable to effectively manage the country’s largest state-owned factory, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Sasenarine Singh has challenged former board member and critic Tony Vieira to produce evidence of corruption within the executive management of the entity.
Singh’s response comes in light of harsh criticism from Vieira, who resigned as Vice-Chairman from the board in June. In a letter published in this newspaper on August 3, Vieira accused Singh of lying to the board of directors and the president.
“I have seen the CEO of our biggest corporation telling untruths to his board, his President and the nation. For example there has been a lot of communication in the media about articulated tractors. As a member of the GuySuCo board I was unable to respond, and I don’t write under assumed names,” he wrote.
At a meeting prior to Vieira’s resignation, both him and Singh were engaged in a heated dispute over the management of the corporation and the decision to purchase the articulate tractors. A recording of the argument was leaked on social media, with both men trading insults.
Vieira, in his letter, criticised Singh and his recommendation that the corporation purchase 22 articulated tractors instead of fixed frame tractors.
“I want him to bring the evidence of the corruption. I challenge him. And I challenge any Guyanese to show me any corruption this office was involved in over the last two years. I challenge this entire nation to show me one iota of this office seeking any gift. And that is how brave I am on it because I live a very simple life,” Singh said as he responded to the allegations against him.
According to the CEO, a year of experimentation proved that the articulated tractor technology is better-suited to prepare fields for mechanised harvesting when compared to the fixed-frame technology.
Vieira, in his letter, said that the “CEO orchestrated the biggest deception” and failed to extend an invitation to the Board of Directors to witness the trial of the two tractors.
“…the two machines were bought and the trial was done at Albion. The CEO orchestrated the biggest deception I have ever seen, in that at the trial, no member of the board was present, including me, the chairman of the field Operations Committee, who was a main objector to the purchase of these articulated machines, and the MOA/NDIA sent a representatives who had absolutely no understanding of how a tractor works in a field pulling a plough,” the former Vice-Chairman penned.
Singh while speaking with this publication however, pointed out that after an independent team was assembled the trial was conducted. GuySuCo, inclusive of him or his technical officers, played no part in the trial, other than supplying the human resources, he said.
Singh also stressed that the board’s subcommittee had signed off on the purchasing of the articulated tractors. The only objection the sub-committee had was to the tractors being delivered in batches of five as was proposed.
“There is nowhere on this document where Sasenarine Singh is signing,” the CEO said before questioning the rationale behind’s Vieira objection to the purchase of tractors that will reduce fuel consumption by 23%.
“I do not understand why Mr Vieira is personalizing this. His view is a minority and I don’t know since when a minority view overwhelms a majority view,” Singh said.
He labelled the allegations as misleading as he said an independent team was established and a review was undertaken following objections by Vieira and President Irfaan Ali’s intervention after being informed of the arguments. The team was appointed by Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha.
The CEO went on to state that the procurement of the articulated tractors is a part of GuySuCo’s five-year strategic plan to make the corporation sustainable.
He noted that while they are moving along this route to mechanise the industry, there is a place for fixed-frame tractors. Currently GuySuCo utilises the New Holland and John Deere brands of fixed frame tractors.
Singh explained that they are looking at a hybrid model in their ploughing and tillage programme.
“GuySuCo has a philosophy of a hybrid model. What we do, we embrace a philosophy of buying fixed frames for the Dutch beds, which are a bit smaller beds and buy the articulate technology tractor for the broad beds, which is the mechanised operation,” he expanded.
According to him, the direction of mechanisation in which the corporation is heading is necessary as the articulate tractors are able to navigate among the fields easily, whereas with the fixed-frame tractors there is a fundamental problem where the tractor is unable to operate effectively in extreme conditions.
“It has resulted in this corporation spending $42 million between January [and] June of this year just taking care of that fundamental defect. The operating cost is extremely high for us…,” he said noting operating on the Dutch bed is a tough challenge.
Nevertheless, Singh said for this year GuySuCo has purchased nine fixed-frame tractors and six articulate tractors.
There are reports that the recommendation to acquire fixed-framed tractors was based on a report submitted to GuySuCo’s Board of Directors though this was never substantiated. GuySuCo at the time was looking to procure six 195HP articulated agricultural tractors.
A group had recommended the purchase of John Deere brand tractors saying that this brand was cost effective and cheaper to operate. The group had also stated that a “section” of GuySuCo’s Board of Directors advised against the purchasing of the GAME brand of articulated tractors based on findings.
According to the group’s report, while both tractor brands, GAME and John Deere, do the same work, the John Deere tractor utilises approximately eight gallons less fuel and completes its task 19 minutes quicker than the other brand.
However, GuySuCo, had contended that a detailed study in the Journal of the American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineers confirmed that the articulated technology remains the most cost-efficient technology to till the land in order to achieve the intended cane yields.
By way of a paid advertisement, the company said the “uncorroborated “criticism of this recommendation caused it to be set aside, and a decision was taken to have independent field testing of the two technologies. As a result, two articulated tractors were imported and they were field-tested for most of 2021.
GuySuCo’s advertisement revealed that on January 7, 2022, the independent team of professional engineers issued a report which stated that the articulated tractor technology was more suitable for fields prepared for mechanical harvesting. The report also recommended the procurement of fixed-framed tractors for ploughing the “Dutch bed”.
The dire shortage of machinery, compounded by flooding has hampered sugar production. The Corporation, said that in a bid to fix Albion and Blairmont, there was an immediate need for seven articulated tractors and five fixed-frame tractors. However, according to GuySuCo, because of budgetary constraints, it was only able to procure six articulated and four fixed-framed tractors.
The corporation disclosed that the six articulated tractors were procured through the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). GuySuCo said that it had an award letter from the NPTAB which conducted an independent evaluation and it was this instrument that it used to sign the contract. Further, GuySuCo said based on the recommendation of the Procurement sub-Committee of the Board, another nine fixed-framed tractors were procured.
On June 16, 2022, GuySuCo signed nine contracts valued at $200 million for the procurement of six tractors for the Rose Hall and Blairmont sugar estates. During the signing it was noted that the procurement was intended to fast-track the government’s efforts to have both facilities resume production as soon as possible
