President issues call for all hands needed on deck for sugar to succeed

The success of the nation’s sugar industry cannot be stirred by the efforts of the government and management only, as he called on the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), to play its part to ensure the sector achieves remarkable goals, according to President, Irfaan Ali.

Ali was at the time addressing a massive crowd during the wreath laying ceremony to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Enmore Martyrs, at the Plantation Enmore, East Coast Demerara Monument. President Ali stressed that it was the PPP/C who led the efforts when the industry was shattered and some 7, 000 Guyanese lost their jobs during the previous government’s tenure in office.

“We are not here to fight the industry. It is this government that is finding billions of dollars to bring back this industry. It is this government that bring back the jobs. It is not this government that took away the 7, 000 jobs, the direct and indirect loss to the industry was more than 30,000 jobs,” he explained.

The President providing the facts, informed the gathering that the previous APNU+AFC was responsible for implementing the more than 200 taxes that eroded disposable income.“So, when we speak about human dignity and the struggle for human dignity, it is a philosophy of this government to struggle for human dignity. That is the funding principal of this government,” he said.  

Ali disclosed that government will continue to support sugar, as it understands the social and economic value of the industry. “We are going to work on restructuring the management and working with the management to strengthen their measures and policies to turn the industry around. But we need the union in this process also,” the President explained.

The Guyanese leader stressed that the sacrifices of the martyrs afforded Guyana the opportunity to produce and provide valuables that were not envisaged at that time. Ali noted that as Guyana improves economically and financially, he stressed that the nation’s workers must feel the benefits.

The President revealed that Government has since invested some $12M to revitalise the industry and is advancing efforts to return the thousands of jobs that were snatched from Guyanese. He reminded those in attendance that on June 16, 1948, Rambarran, Pooran, Lallabagee, Surajballi and Harry were killed by colonial police during a strike at the East Coast Demerara estate. The five martyrs were among a larger group of workers, many of whom were also injured during the exercise to demand better working conditions.

The Head of State underscored that the blood of the sugar workers were not shed only for the industry, but for human dignity and honesty, and for Guyana to rise as a nation which provided a platform for the achievement of independence. He noted that to confine their contribution only to the sugar industry will be mistakenly narrowing their contribution to the nation’s development, the President said.

More disposable income in pockets of Guyanese

The President disclosed a number of achievements by his government to date, which have seen billions of dollars in disposable income being injected into the pockets of Guyanese. He said Government has spent some $612M in year-end tax free bonuses for healthcare workers. He noted that all central government employees benefitted from a seven percent across the board increase that placed some $10.5B in the hands of 50,000 families.

Further, he said that notwithstanding the challenges in the sugar industry, workers also received a seven percent retroactive on their salaries. Ali noted that his Government has also increased the ceiling on low-income mortgage from $8M to $12M. The loans ceiling which was granted by the New Building Society (NBS) was advanced from $12M to 15M.

Ali added that a further 400M was placed in the hands of frontline workers in the healthcare sector.