Instead of GuySuCo being turned around, it will be buried underground
Dear Editor,
GuySuCo is turning out to be a failure. It was inevitable that GuySuCo would fail from the get go in August. There is no innovation and transformational leadership to turn around GuySuCo. Government erred in its appointees to manage GuySuCo. Since September, there is a lot of ‘abu’ (abundance and excesses in expenditure in management) and ‘dhabu’ (eating) and merry go round (fun, enjoyment and going in circles) with little skill and competence to transform the industry. Instead of GuySuCo being turned around, it will be buried underground. Resources are not concentrated on preparing the fields or rehabilitating the closed estates or raising the salary of those involved on field work but on management. GuySuCo has more consultants, bookkeepers, and accountants than larger agencies and corporations. The then opposition PPP blamed APNU for financial waste, but more money is wasted now than previously. The Irfaan/Jagdeo team is silent on financial abuses and the neglect of sugar workers.
Two ‘turn around’ consultants were hired in September in excess of US$15K monthly (over G$3M) plus other perks. One was hyped as transforming Scotia Bank (it is closing out) and the other was introduced as the man who turned around the bauxite industry (it is being shuttered). They were the experts hired to turn around GuySuCo – we know what turn around under them meant. They seem to lack agricultural and agronomy background – one supposedly a banker and the other a fast food manager. They are integrally involved in GuySuCo’s turnaround plan. These consultants were supposed to prepare a GuySuCo turnaround document. To date, seven months later, a document is not available for perusal, much less evaluation. Is there a draft of the intended consultancy? Some $21M spent, but no document. Dr. N.K Gopaul led a small team of experts to prepare a GuySuCo turn around document within days of the government swearing in and it cost virtually no money. Why couldn’t that document be used as a basis for a turnaround plan instead of hiring new consultants who are not familiar with the industry to prepare a plan? Or why couldn’t Mr. Vishnu Panday, an expert in sugar production and GuySuCo, be approached to prepare or evaluate a turnaround document? Mr. Panday served as a consultant from 2012-2014. The effects of his expertise were felt in 2015, when sugar production increased to 230K tons, a credit to the work of President Donald Ramotar and Panday.
We learn that the CEO supposedly turned around sixteen companies in America. But we are not given any of their names to confirm the claim. It would be great if we can at least have one company’s name to verify if it was indeed turned around or if it went the way of the Scotia Bank and the bauxite company. Besides the two noted above, several other consultants have been taken on at GuySuCo to assist the in-house staff. Are so many consultants needed? We have only three active estates. The other three are not actively being prepared for production and have limited staff. There is enough skilled expertise within GuySuCo without a need for these many consultants.
GuySuCo management seems to be eating well. Some months ago, an Indian rights activist from New York railed that the APNU appointed board was eating out GuySuCo money. Why is he silent now on this board eating out GuySuCo workers money? He should examine how much is spent on entertainment by GuySuCo’s management.
Less than 100K tons sugar is produced, but there are more consultants than when there were eight grinding estates, a few years. Big money is spent on consultancy, management and entertainment. Is it some $6M being spent monthly to upkeep the CEO with cooks, gardeners, servants, drivers, security, but field workers can’t get a salary raise to make $100K a month. Money is not available to fast track Skeldon, Enmore and Rose Hall. The promised creation of 10K jobs at GuySuCo has not materialised –only a few hundred have been hired and their jobs are not secure because two estates are being prepared to be handed over to foreigners.
Yours truly,
Boysie Mangru
