Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday said that workers attached to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) received their wages and he strongly condemned the Opposition for being mischievous and peddling information that the workers were not being paid.
The Opposition in a statement released on their social media platforms said that “considering the recent developments surrounding the payment of wages and salaries at the state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Parliamentary Opposition the APNU+AFC demands that the government of Guyana and the Minister of Agriculture come clean with the entire population and give reasons why GuySuCo has failed to prepare and make timely payment of wages, salaries, and pension to its workers.”
According to the Opposition, “this is even more worrying when it is noted that GuySuCo has received more than $5 billion in subvention for 2023.”
However, a senior finance person at GuySuCo confirmed that all monthly and weekly wages were paid out.
Several workers were contacted by the Sunday Stabroek yesterday all of whom confirmed that they along with their colleagues received their payments on Friday through the banks as is normally done.
One superintendent said, “That is fake news, we have been paid”, while another worker added that to his knowledge the payments came a bit late on Friday but when he checked at the bank on Saturday it was there, “No, I get pay…I just come from bank and my money there.”
Another worker added, “I didn’t get to go bank yet but them boys went and said they get pay suh the money deh deh.”
The Opposition in its statement claimed that this week had marked the second week since “GuySuCo has failed to adequately make payments to its workers and pensioners. According to complaints reaching the APNU+AFC, GuySuCo has failed to make payments to its staff complement on the week ending the 25th of November,2023 as it was reported by several pensioners that last week GuySuCo Uitvlugt Estate failed to make payments to the pensioners of that estate.”
The statement continued, “The APNU+AFC demands that all wages and salaries be paid to all GuySuCo staff and pensioners at its stipulated timeframe be it monthly, fortnightly, or weekly. To date the Guyana Sugar Corporation has received out of the National Assembly approved sums of over 30 billion dollars in just under three years.”
However, Mustapha when contacted yesterday condemned the statement by the Opposition saying that it was only meant to cause panic among workers as he stressed that “all workers were paid.”
Meanwhile, the Opposition further charged that GuySuCo “has been mismanaged for years by this PPP/C regime, has failed to achieve its target for sugar production and has been unable to return the industry to profitability. It continues to misuse billions of taxpayers’ dollars and squander it as a result of incompetent leadership.”
The statement said that the Guyana Sugar Corporation has failed to declare a total production figure for sugar produced at the recently rehabilitated “defective Rose Hall Estate Factory which started grinding in September and was shut down at the close of crop by the end of October. Another manifestation of PPPC mismanagement and incompetence.”
Workers at the Rose Hall Estate yesterday relayed that their crop has ended at the estate. Sources at the estate said, that the factory produced just over 1,000 tonnes of sugar.
In closing the Opposition said, that “GuySuCo’s latest act of poor management is one that appears to be most detrimental to the corporation’s survival for the new year. In this regard, we are witnessing the harvesting of young canes slated to be harvested for the first crop of 2024 almost completely cut from the fields in 2023. The question arises where will the canes be harvested from for the first crop of 2024? The APNU+AFC notes that the over 15,000 Guyanese employed by GuySuCo all have either family expenses or bills to pay in already harsh living conditions of the high cost of living and meagre wages and salaries. Our seniors are dependent on their pension and as such we call on the government to immediately implement measures to ensure the full payment of all categories of workers and pensioners.”
Mustapha yesterday reminded the Opposition that it was they while in government who closed the Rose Hall Estate leaving thousands of sugar workers on the breadline without any means to take care of their families. He said that his government has been working to restore the livelihoods of these families and their communities.
According to sources at GuySuCo, the corporation has so far achieved 59,000 metric tonnes of sugar leaving them 1,000 tonnes away from their estimated target for this year of just over 60,000 tonnes.
