There have been no real alternatives for the thousands of displaced sugar workers, PM has failed the industry

Dear Editor,

The December 10, Stabroek News reported that Prime Minister and First Vice President, Moses Nagamootoo in his contribution to the 2019 Budget debate said the Budget “…will ensure pay and continued jobs for all workers inside and outside of government…”. While the Prime Minister boasts about jobs that the Budget will provide in his speech on the 2019 Budget in the National Assembly he carefully and clearly avoided any reference to the serious situation playing out in the sugar belt. As is known, on one hand his Government, with a few at the top sitting in some air conditioned room with the fancifulness of life, has decided to put thousands of workers out of jobs and, on the other, has denied, purposefully or otherwise, those still connected to the industry a pay raise since his Government took office. It’s hard to believe that the Prime Minister forgot about the sugar workers and the affection he says he has for them, as he seldom misses the opportunity to boast about his ties with the sugar workers and their struggles.

Today, as Christmas 2018 approaches, the Prime Minister is now ensconced in the bosom of Government and political power, though it is contended by some that he has none, enjoying the perks and privilege it brings. Today, obviously, he has forgotten much of what he proclaimed he stood for. Just eight years ago, incidentally in the Christmas Season, the now Prime Minister called on Guyanese to “Light a Candle” for Sugar Workers, a phrase he said he borrowed from Rickey Singh whom he reportedly had removed as a columnist with the Chronicle not long after he assumed his high position. At that time, the now Prime Minister, said “[t]he Government would do well also to explore all possibilities to give the sugar workers even a nominal wage increase. Zero is an insult, not an option”. But now with Mr Nagamootoo in the driver’s seat, under his watch, it has been zero in 2015, zero in 2016, zero in 2017 and, so far, zero in 2018. It is an insult to the hard-working workers that Mr Nagamootoo and company has now made zero not an option but a shameful feature.

Mr Nagamootoo, in his now infamous 2010 missive, also said too “… workers were literally expected to ‘produce or perish’”. Now, under Mr Nagamootoo’s Government, it is sad to say that workers are producing and yet perishing. The December 13, Stabroek News reported that the Corporation said “…it is poised to achieve its production target for the year, 2018 of 103, 000 tonnes of sugar…”. The article went on to report “[t]he Corporation said it would like to thank all employees for remaining focused on the task at hand and delivering a successful target”. Though making such efforts and laudable contributions, they are taking home less pay than they did prior to the Coalition taking office. It is instructive to recall that the Prime Minister, in the November 08, 2011 Kaieteur News, is quoted as saying “sugar workers were being screwed”. As we consider past utterances with today’s actions, we are reminded that Bob Marley, famously and correctly said, “Who the cap fit, let them wear it”.

Regarding the minimization of sugar, the Prime Minister reportedly said, according to DPI, that the Cabinet spent “days, weeks and months agonizing on how to deal with the tragedy of the sugar industry”. He also says the Government “interest was to save it”. Mr Nagamootoo in his 2012 Budget debate contribution said on the sugar industry “…I crave your indulgence very quickly, there is no easy fix. The time for a new governance mechanism is now, not tomorrow, not in the future, not in the next 5 years. It must not depend on whether we discover