Government yesterday began the payout of promised $250,000 one-off grants to close to 2,500 sugar workers who were laid off when the former APNU+AFC administration closed the Enmore and Wales estates.
The distribution of the grants is a fulfillment to a promise made in October by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to sugar workers who had been laid off from the Enmore, Wales, Skeldon and Rose Hall Estates under the former government.
The former government had justified the shuttering of the estates and the layoffs as being part of a plan to turn around the struggling industry by concentrating on the productive estates.
Almost 1,600 workers who were laid from Enmore Estate are expected to receive payouts totalling close to $400 million. Distribution of the cheques commenced yesterday at the administration office of the Enmore Estate. A similar exercise was also slated to be held at the Wales Estate for some 930 affected persons, representing a payout of approximately $232 million.
Addressing the gathering at Enmore yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha reminded the workers that the one-off payment is a commitment to Jagdeo’s promise. “…When we were in the opposition…we said that when we return to government we [would] ensure that the sugar workers who were severed receive some forms of benefit although they would have already received their severance pay,” Mustapha said.
He noted that the closure of the sugar industry not only placed over 7,000 workers on the breadline but also led to the collapse of the economies of the communities in which the estates were located.
“I know for a fact that many of you or all of you who were severed, your lives were changed by the previous government because you had a job, you had a estate and then suddenly we had the… closure of four estates. Seven thousand workers, one time, with the stroke of a pen, the former Government would have put seven thousand five hundred sugar workers on the breadline,” Mustapha noted.
“…Not only the sugar workers’ lives were changed [for] the worse but we have seen the death of the village economy. We have seen the [breaking] up of many families where people had to leave their family and go to different parts of the country and different parts of the world to find employment,” he added.
Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, also addressed the former workers and said that any “responsible” government ought to have understood how vital the sugar industry was to the communities in which they existed and the country at large.
“The decision to close the sugar industry, the decision to padlock the gates of sugar factories throughout the length and breadth of Guyana…..was one of the most callous, cruel and unconscionable decisions made by any government in the history of this country,” Singh said.
Despite promises by the former government to sustain the industry, Singh further noted, no second thoughts were given to establish employment opportunities or support for the severed workers and their families.
Singh urged them to consider carefully how best they can utilise the funds and do so in a manner in which they can generate a supplementary in-come. “Whether you want to invest it in a small business, whether you want to invest it in some livestock, whether you want to invest it in a little garden at the back of the yard, that is a decision you will have to make,” he added.
Speaking to Sunday Stabroek yesterday, one of the severed workers, Hilla Rai, said she started working with the Guyana Sugar Corporation Incorporated (GuySuCo) since 1991. She said she was severed in 2017 and was re-employed in October, 2020.
“From that time, I [was] all over the place looking for work. I got reemploy last year October with GuySuCo again and I am so happy and proud for getting this voucher. I am so glad,” Rai said.
She plans to use the cash to invest in a small business.
Horace Ralph, who has over 13 years of experience in the sugar industry, said he has been unemployed since he was laid off. “The system really tight from since them to now,” he said.
The grant, Ralph said will go towards completing his own home. “I got to get five hundred and something thousand more to finish off me own roof…I glad for this lil piece. At least it will carry me a way,” Ralph noted.
Reopen and reemploy
Both Mustapha and Singh shared the government’s commitment to reopen the closed estates and reemploy a number of the severed sugar workers.
According to Mustapha, reemployment has already commenced and hundreds of those laid off are no longer unemployed.
“…Today more than twelve hundred sugar workers who were fired, who were severed, have already been employed. And we are working aggressively to reopen the closed sugar estates. We said we would do it by phase. We can’t do it all at once,” he said.
Mustapha said that since the PPP/C entered office, it has since channeled close to $40 billion to rehabilitate the sugar industry. “…We must not only see sugar or GuySuCo as an entity that produces sugar, we must see GuySuCo as a company that touches the lives of almost every single citizen in those areas that they operate in,” Mustapha stated.
He said any government would ensure GuySuCo survives. “….I want to tell you that our government, the PPP/Civic government, will protect GuySuCo and we will move GuySuCo forward in the near future… I want to tell you as long at the PPP/Civic government is in office, we will continue to support GuySuCo, we will continue to protect GuySuCo and we will continue to protect your livelihoods,” Mustapha promised.
Meanwhile, Singh said that the government is committed to doing “all in its power” to rebuild the sugar industry.
In addition, he further stated that the government is also working to create job opportunities in every other sector. According to Singh, many persons who worked in the sugar industry have skills that are “easily transferrable” into other sectors, including the blooming oil and gas sector. “…Whatever shape or form, the sugar industry might take once it is reopened, we don’t want anybody to feel confined. That you are confined to work only in sugar,” he said.
He urged the severed sugar workers to also take advantage of job opportunities in other sectors. “We will continue to strive to create as many jobs as we can. We urge you to be proactive in exploring those opportunities and taking up those jobs,” he added.
