Shaik Baksh is GuySuCo’s new Chairman, but old members remain

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy announced on Saturday that former Education Minister, Shaik Baksh, who is the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Water Inc., has been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
The Minister said the board has been appointed by the Cabinet and the letters of appointment have been sent out to all the board members. Some of the current board members will remain, according to a Government statement yesterday.
The Minister said that the other members are  Dunstan Barrow, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Linden Enterprise Network (LEN); Dr. Dindyal Permaul, Chief Executive Officer, Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA); Keith Burrowes, Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest); Badri Persaud, Managing Director, Guyana Oil Company (Guyoil) and Geeta Singh-Knight. Current CEO, Dr. Raj Singh, sits on the board as an ex-officio member.
Head of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Komal Chand has refused an invitation to join the board, the statement said yesterday.
Ramsammy said that one other person, who indicated willingness to serve on the board, cannot do so at this time. His name is expected to be announced within the next few weeks.
According to the statement, under new management, a full turnaround of the state-owned company’s performance is expected.
“It is projected that the sugar industry will record an improvement of 15.6 percent in production output to 215,910 tonnes this year.”
Among some of the things that GuySuCo will be targeting is increased and lower cost of production; diversified target markets, and expansion of value-added production in order to survive.
The industry has been a major problem for Guyana in recent years as production fell to its lowest in two decades, in face of poor worker turnout.
The industry has been consistently asking for cash bailouts in recent years from