Dear Editor,
I was bewildered and in disbelief when I read in the Guyana Times last Saturday that GuySuCo Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh, has been identified as Guyana’s Ambassador to Brussels, and that Paul Cheong will be appointed as Singh’s replacement.
Editor, please let me first deal with Brussels and Singh.
Brussels is the capital city of the Kingdom of Belgium and is unique in that it is not only the seat of the Belgian Government, but also of the European Commission, which is the executive wing of the European Union (EU). Presently, the capital city hosts 184 countries with their accredited representatives in their respective embassies. The secretariat of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) is in Brussels. It just goes to show the significance of Brussels, where the seats and secretariats of global diplomacy and trade negotiations are concerned, and it is in this high-level environment that Singh would be posted as Guyana’s Ambassador.
With respect to Guyana, a diplomatic posting to Brussels is considered among the top four; with the other three being the United States of America, Britain, Canada, and which gave rise to the acronym ABCE countries. The “E” being the European Union.
Brussels is the epicentre for global trade negotiation among the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. It is expected that the incumbent envoy must be versed in trade negotiations, apart from being an accomplished and experienced diplomat and foreign envoy.
One would have thought that like all previous diplomatic postings to Brussels, an experienced and career diplomat would have been appointed to the post of Ambassador to Brussels, the likes of Dr. P.I. Gomes, Cedric Grant, and Havelock Brewster. It defies all logic as to what selection criteria were used to determine the suitability of Singh to be appointed to this prestigious position.
Singh, in his professional life has never been known to have even a rudimentary position in a foreign mission, nor an association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guyana. The Department of Public Information (DPI) on September 15, 2020, described Singh on his appointment as the sugar company’s acting CEO as “a specialist with over 16 years at turnaround management internationally and possesses tremendous experience at building capacity in teams”. There was no mention of not even an iota of experience in foreign affairs, trade negotiations and international relations.
If Singh’s management of the sugar industry is used as an indicator to measure his performance, then it could be described as lacklustre at best. In 2020, with no credit to him, since he was at the helm for the last 3 months of year, the total production was 89,000 tonnes sugar. In the ensuing years (2021 to 2023), under his direction, sugar production precipitously declined to 58,000 (2021), 49,000 (2022), and rose to 60,000 in 2023. In 2023, were it not for the huge amount of hectares of canes taken out from the 1st crop of 2024 to be processed in 2023, as was reported by Tony Vieira in one of his letters, sugar production in 2023 would have been worse than 2022. In these years, as the CEO, Singh spent close to G$22 billion of government funding (published budgetary provisions). What has he shown in return for spending approximately G$5 billion per year of government funds, that excludes whatever funds were generated by the company’s sugar sales? Is this the sort of accomplishment that was used in the selection process?
In the same 16 years that the DPI referred to, Singh was working outside of Guyana, with no benefit or attachment to the government and people of Guyana. Singh was literally unknown in this country until he was seen on social media pulling a suitcase towards the Ashmin Building when the March 2020 election fiasco was unfolding in that building, and thereafter gave publicity of himself by being associated with the Guardians of Democracy: representing the PPP in the guarding and recounting of ballots. Editor does this qualify Singh for the candidacy of the post of Guyana’s Ambassador to Brussels because there are simply no other achievement, experience, or nationalism to qualify him for this job of Guyana’s Ambassador to Brussels?
With respect to Paul Cheong, he has been seen as a conspicuous comrades-in-arm with President Ali on the President’s social media platform, and his appointment could only be interpreted as another political acolyte for the perks associated with the CEO’s position.
Editor, except for the period 2015 – 2020 when the CEO was an experienced and knowledgeable sugar manager, all the others to date, going back to 2013, have been political appointees with absolutely no knowledge or experience in the sugar industry, and in the process sugar production slumped from 220,000 tonnes in 2012 to 60,000 in 2023, much to the detriment of the industry and painful funding by the country’s taxpayers. It was against the backdrop of such dismal performances that four sugar estates were shuttered, including the failed US$220M Skeldon.
If the government is serious about having the right person to lead the management of the company, the ideal thing to do is to solicit local and regional applications and select one that has what it takes to lead the company to success; not the recycling of another political appointee.
Yours faithfully,
Raj Parmanand
