President Ali declares that Gov’t focused on reviving sugar industry

President, Irfaan Ali declared that his administration is seeking to revive Guyana’s sugar industry and will be meeting with the management of the sugar corporation during the course of this week to address the major issues.

“My focus is on ensuring that we work to revive GuySuCo (Guyana Sugar Corporation), making it viable, making it economically and financially feasible and that is why I say it is not only about financial feasibility, it is about economic feasibility, how it is integrated in the entire community, so that is the focus,” Ali told journalists on the sidelines of an event in Buxton on Saturday.

The President noted that recent internal issues among the management and members of the board led to the resignation of GuySuCo’s Board Vice Chairman, Anthony Vieira. President Ali stressed that he intends to meet all parties this week to have a dialogue.

“There seems to be a strained relationship between some board members and the management. The management has a position, the directors have a position. I intend to bring the parties together in the new week and to have a conversation,” he said.

The Head of State pointed out that since taking office, government has heavily invested in making the sugar industry economically viable after it was neglected by the previous administration.

Ali disclosed that under the APNU+AFC, several sugar estates were closed and thousands of sugar workers placed on the breadline. However, the new Government upon returning to office, has been working to reopen the estates and have begun rehiring workers who were made redundant. As such, sugar workers who were laid off also received $250,000 from government in 2021.

Ali revealed that in his party’s manifesto, a commitment was made to “work to solve the problems of the industry as a whole, by firstly bringing the industry to breakeven status and then to profitability by ensuring better management and greater efficiency through retooling, mechanisation, product diversification and private participation.”