Amid talks by the Government to reopen sugar estates recently closed, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo says he supports this move and called on the administration to admit that it was wrong to initially close the estates.
“The Government must admit that it made a blunder, it treated the sugar industry in a political fashion when they should have done more technical work, we called on them to do the technical work, they ever did, they made the wrong decision and once they admit that, then that’s fine. I think the country can forgive that, many sugar workers may not forgive them,” Jagdeo told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon had announced that expressions of interest from investors in the closed estates speak to the cultivation of sugar cane and that these have been received by the Special Purpose Unit (SPU) which was set up to manage the divestment of the assets of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
Harmon had said the estates would be more attractive to investors if they are still functional.
Quoting sources, the Stabroek News reported in its February 15, 2018, edition that the Skeldon and Enmore estates will be reopened by the end of March and that some cane-cutters will be re-employed.
In light of these developments, Jagdeo questioned the ability of the government to make critical decisions.
“The government decided to close four estates and said ‘we just have to get out of sugar’ and then suddenly we see in the headlines that the government will restart some of these factories. We need to understand the thinking of this government. Do they sit down and go through the numbers before it makes a decision as critical as this one,” Jagdeo questioned.
