The 2025 National Budget Debate hit its third day on Tuesday with all the fire and fury expected from one of the most passionately debated sectors in Guyanese politics – agriculture.
Opposition Parliamentarian Vinceroy Jordon, who represents the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), kicked off the day’s exchanges with a speech that lasted almost 40 minutes.
His delivery was intense, and it didn’t take long for tensions to rise. On the government side, heckles echoed through the Chamber, while opposition members responded with bangs of their desks in support of Jordon.
But it was Jordon’s bold assertion about the future of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) that truly ignited the room.
“Under the APNU+AFC, we will develop GuySuCo,” Jordon proclaimed, causing the House to fall silent for a moment before it erupted into laughter.
The declaration was nothing short of shocking. After all, the APNU+AFC Coalition’s record on sugar has been a steady point of criticism for their time in government.
During 2015 to 2020, the coalition closed four sugar estates, a decision that has been widely criticised.
So, for Jordon to now promise the development of the sugar industry under the very coalition that oversaw its decline amounted to a funny irony, drawing mockery from both sides of the House.
Jordon’s attempt to deflect blame for the state of GuySuCo was equally contentious. He claimed that the decline of the sugar industry was the fault of the PPP/C, contradicting the widely held view that it was the APNU+AFC’s policies that dealt the industry the most significant blows.
This did not sit well with Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, who wasted no time setting the record straight.
Taking to the floor, Minister Mustapha delivered a sharp rebuttal, insisting that the PPP/C government had not laid off a single sugar worker during its tenure, particularly when it closed estates.
He took direct aim at Jordan’s claims that billions have been invested since 2020 to reopen estates, rehire workers, and revitalise the industry but there was nothing to show for it.
“The real history must be told,” Mustapha declared passionately.
“The facts cannot be buried under prepared speeches and political rhetoric. Our young people need to know the truth,” he added.
Mustapha went on to highlight that under the APNU+AFC government, sugar production plummeted from roughly 231,000 tonnes in 2015 to just over 92,000 tonnes by 2019—an alarming 60% decrease. Four sugar estates were closed, and thousands of workers were sent home.
“They have a problem with sugar workers in this country because they feel that they support the PPP,” Mustapha charged, noting that the opposition’s actions were driven by a desire to punish those who aligned with the PPP.
Drawing attention to the progress made since 2020, Mustapha stated that 40% of cultivation land had been mechanised, with billions of dollars invested to upgrade sugar factories. He even expressed confidence that GuySuCo was on track to reach its target of over 100,000 tonnes of sugar production this year.
“This is not just rhetoric; this is real progress,” Mustapha added.
Altogether, the minister was scathing in his criticism of the APNU+AFC’s handling of agriculture.
“They should be the last to speak on agriculture. They destroyed this country’s agriculture,” he said.
