THE VOICE OF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Are we committed to restructuring Guysuco?
By: Sase Singh
Introduction
After authoring a sugar series in the Guyana Chronicle in 2015, the plan was always to do such a series in the Kaieteur News, which is read by a different spectrum of the Guyanese population. There could be no better time to commence this series, after the completion of the much-delayed Commission of Inquiry (CoI) Report into the sugar sector.
Sase Singh
The unhealthy financial state in which Guysuco finds itself has the potential to cause long-term distress which can result in the closure of the sugar industry of Guyana; let us not fool ourselves. But even more important is that we must know that privatization will only accelerate closure of this industry.
Thus, it is vital for all Guyanese who want to preserve and grow the economic strength of this nation, to reject this CoI Report and its primary recommendation – privatization and divestment of these State Owned Assets.
It’s the Cash Flow Stupid
There are clear reasons for corporate failure at Guysuco; it has nothing to do with the Guyanese people not having the ability and, more importantly, the workers being able to rise to the challenge. It has everything to do with very poor management under the PPP and much political interference under the PPP.
Former President Ramotar is not an innocent bystander in the destruction of Guysuco; he sat on the Board when the political decision was enforced that Guyana must go with the Chinese vs. the Indian to build the Skeldon Sugar Factory and did nothing as Guysuco drained its working capital on a capital expenditure.
He then presided over the ensuing mess as President; when he could have done something- like firing that “sugar numbskull” that paraded then as CEO. Guysuco was allowed to deteriorate since 2004 because of the PPP and no one else – let us get that fact absolutely clear. But, that is no reason to make any determined and pre-meditated attempt at making an even worst decision for the industry – privatization.
This APNU+AFC Coalition in a short 18 months period will be pumping some $24 billion of taxpayers’ money into the industry and that is a lot of money. But there are no alternatives considering the macroeconomic and socioeconomic impact of the sugar industry.
Even our flood control plan is heavily dependent on Guysuco, like so many other core infrastructure needs in rural Guyana that goes unnoticed. The strategy has to be weeding out the non-value added elements of Guysuco and preserving those that can survive successfully by taking them up the value chain.
This Report is strategically deficient in many areas but most disappointedly in the Economic/ Finance area. I have a ton of respect for the academic work of Professor Clive Thomas and I value his journals and writing.
I even consider him as someone who is much deserving of the Order of Excellence as one of Guyana’s premier economists who has published so many fine pieces of academic work in the field of economics. But what clearly was highlighted by this report is that most of the players especially those who constructed the Economic/Finance Sub-Committee Report do not have a clue on what it takes to run a real business in distress in the real world.
THE TERMS OF REFERENCE of the Commission were absolutely clear – “Prepare a Road Map for the way ahead for 2016-2030, structured in five-year intervals, with stated goals and modalities of implementation”. This was not even attempted to be done!
Actually, the Cabinet was given a basket to fetch water by this Commission even after they spent over G$70 million on themselves and their operations. Would we call that executive swindle?
How has the CoI Report helped?
We have to be grateful to the Commission for identifying the key challenges in the industry which every single Tamesh, Dick and Beharry on the estates grew-up knowing. Thus, although not much new knowledge was added to the industry on the field and factory operations, at least, all of that information is now in a formal document. We also have to be grateful for a set of updated high-level financial information.
But the financial analysis was sub-optimal and the financial modeling was missing in action. Even in the Bachelor’s of Business Administration, the first year college students are aware that you cannot draw a financial road map without a financial model. But I suspect Guyana is in a different time zone and on a different planet.
Guysuco was nationalized by the PNC Government to transfer political power from the European to the new local ruling class and thus because Guysuco has always been a political question – that is why the industry has always been mashed up since 1976.
But the minute you remove the politics from the industry, Guysuco shines. Privatization of Guysuco is a guaranteed poison pill that will exterminate the sugar industry. Guysuco will never survive in private hands that are totally focused on profits over people; it will die within five years of privatization and thousands will economically and socially die along with it.
Please share your feedback with me at sasesin1@yahoo.com.
