David Granger feels privatizing the sugar industry would offer private cane farmers an opportunity to boost production, and decrease state focus in an industry which requires people with technical expertise and entrepreneurial skills.
The industry’s dismal production over the years and edgy labour relations have impacted on the state of sugar in the country, Granger said recently. His plan to privatize the industry was revealed at the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) business luncheon on Wednesday last.
Granger expanded on the brief statement when asked by Stabroek News to outline his plan for the industry though he clarified that his plan is more of a concept at this stage.
“I’m not saying let us throw the industry to the wolves and or for the state to turn its back on sugar, the idea is that people with the necessary expertise in this area, particularly as it relates to sugarcane production, should be allowed to manage the affairs of the industry and not the state or political operatives sitting on a board,” he stated.
The PNCR presidential candidate’s notion of privatization of the sugar industry differs from the perspective shared by AFC presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan, who said his party would prefer to be in government before making such a decision though it had explored the idea when assessing the state of the industry and writing up the party’s Action Plan.
Privatization was proposed years ago by Professor Clive Thomas in a regional study he had prepared, but the administration has never considered it.
Donald Ramotar, the PPP presidential candidate said he would address the issue when he meets business leaders on May 25 at a GMSA organized luncheon. “I’m going to address it there,” he told this newspaper last week when contacted.
GuySuCo’s management has been poor over the years, Granger said, stressing the state might not possesses the requisite skills to actually turn things around in the industry. He said it calls for people with the expertise and with entrepreneurial skills who will focus on increased production, and on fixing the problems in the industry.
Granger sees the state as focusing instead on matters of security, diplomacy and disaster preparedness among other areas. “The state, in my opinion, ought to be occupied with such matters including protecting our citizens… I don’t see why the state should be a competitor in private industry,” he opined.
To expand on this point, Granger said state involvement in sugar equals state involvement in the media; which he is strongly opposed to. He said government should not get involved in competitive media, observing that the state can be allowed to manage an information system which disseminates information to the public, but not a news agency.
“When the state gets involved in such things like competitive media we are trespassing into the domain of private citizens,” he stated. He said too that state involvement in the media serves the incumbent party well in an election year where state resources are used for partisan purposes. He argued that opposition parties are not afforded access to those state resources.
According to Granger, the brain-drain has also depleted the level of expertise and skills in the country which are available to tap into to turn around the sugar industry. He said the fact that GuySuCo is being managed by political appointees speaks to its mismanagement.
‘Studied decision’
Ramjattan told Stabroek News that any decision to privatize the industry would have to be, “a studied decision”. He said the AFC explored the idea when it was conducting an assessment for the party’s Action Plan, which was launched earlier this year.
He explained there was talk of turning over a few estates such as Wales to private investors, who would have a plan as to how to develop the estate into more than just sugar production. He said that the party strongly supports going the route of ethanol production. However, he observed, the party is in no position to make a clear call on privatization because it is not in government.
“We are outside and there are certain dynamics which we would have to understand before taking such a decision, and these things become clearer when you are inside. When in government we would know whether to privatize or not,” he added.
Ramjattan criticized statements made by President Bharrat Jagdeo last week at the launching of the new packaging plant at Enmore, saying the demise of GuySuCo was created and caused by the PPP’s poor leadership in the industry. He said the President’s statement about sugar being dead without political commitment was, “most deceiving and can only be compared to the other deceptive statement made by Donald Ramotar that the ‘Board of GuySuCo cannot be blamed for the company’s woes’”.
The AFC’s sugar plan talks about engaging investors to develop the Canje Basin to produce ethanol and other bio-fuel using the latest harvesting technology; analyzing GuySuCo from top to bottom using a highly competent International Technical team from Brazil or India to remove bottleneck; and providing funding for sugar research so that we can accelerate the building of the required local competence in the industry.
