Probe team completes first round of inspections at GuySuCo’s factories

– Several top officials, former managers set to make submissions

July 22, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source

The Commission of Inquiry (COI) mandated by Government to investigate the operations of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) says it is continuing its work and was set to complete the first round of factory visits yesterday. The final visit was to the Uitvlugt factory, West Coast Demerara, by a five-man team.

According to GuySuCo’s COI, visits were conducted at all the other estates in Berbice and Demerara.

Appointed in June, the COI members are Vibert Parvatan (Chairman); Prof. Clive Thomas (Financial and Economic Analysis); Dr. Harold Davis and John Piggott (Agronomists); John Dow and Joseph Alfred (Factory Operations); George James (Sugar Processing); Nowrang Persaud (Industrial Relations); Claude Housty (Marketing); Seepaul Narine, GAWU Representative; and Omadatt Chandan who serves as the Commission’s Secretary.

The eleven-member Commission, during its investigations, will develop a 15-year plan which is hoped will bring the industry back to profitability to ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability.

Among the work being carried out by the Commission is investigating the current state of cane cultivation, factory operations, and production and marketing of sugar, molasses and other by-products. Special emphasis is being placed on human resources, research and development, diversification of the industry, community obligations, weather events, marketing, finance, procurement, factory performance and management.

The Commission is expected to work closely with the Interim Management Team of GuySuCo over a three- month period which commenced on July 1.

According to the body yesterday, during the visits to the estates, meetings were held with all levels of staff.

“Field, factory and human resource commissioners held meetings with general managers, departmental managers and some workers. These visits took place during the out of crop period and this facilitated an examination of work in progress for the next crop.”

The Commission said that managers were “open” in their review of operations and took the opportunity to identify obstacles affecting productivity and production.

“They all shared their concerns for the marked decline in production with consequential losses over the past recent years. Teams will be revisiting the estates at various periods as a follow up.” In the meantime, members of the Commission have started consultations with various stakeholders.

So far, the persons who presented views and made statements to the Commission include Sydney Robinson, a former factory manager in the sugar industry who now resides in Florida; Vickram Oditt, former Chairman of GuySuCo; Anthony Vieira, former shareholder of Houston/Versailles estates and a manager in the industry; Earl John, former Human Resources Director of GuySuCo and Raymond Sangster, General Manager, Agriculture Services, GuySuCo.

The Commission yesterday disclosed that other persons have signaled their intentions to make submissions, including representatives of Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU); National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE); Guyana Labour Union (GLU); representatives of the National Cane Farming Association; Vishnu Panday, former General Manager of GuySuCo; Lance Tyrell, former Factory Manager and Chief Electrical Engineer, GuySuCo and George Alleyne, formerly of GuySuCo.

“Notices have been sent out inviting interested parties to contact the Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry so that dates can be set for their presentation. Discussions are ongoing with Mr. (Paul Bhim) of GuySuCo and with the return of Mr. Errol Hanoman shortly, he will be joining in the talks.”

The situation with GuySuCo has been a major worry for consecutive Governments.

With over 16,000 workers, the industry has been sucking money from the public purse, with over US$50M plugged within recent years to prop the estates in Demerara and Berbice.

Production levels have fallen to a 20-year low, with costs rising to twice for what GuySuCo is selling sugar for to its European customers.

Since taking office in May, the new David Granger-led administration has released $3.8B to GuySuCo to pay suppliers and other critical debts.
There had been repeated calls for the industry to be thoroughly investigated.

The entire board of directors headed by Shaik Baksh and its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Raj Singh, was sacked within recent weeks, with Government bringing back former heads, Paul Bhim and Errol Hanoman to be part of an Interim Management Committee (IMC).

There have been criticisms that the IMC’s work should be wider, addressing some more fundamental issues.

According to auditor/commentator, Chris Ram, the COI should be addressing issues such as whether Guyana can remain competitive in sugar given that its current cost of production is approximately US$0.40 per pound while the world sugar price is approximately $0.14 per pound.

He said that questions should be asked as to how much and for how long taxpayers should be required to sustain GuySuCo with subsidies and to what extent GuySuCo and Guyana should remain in sugar.