Maintaining GuySuCo is depriving many other sectors

President David Granger is saying that the money his government has been pumping into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is enough to have effected significant changes in other sectors.

“One of the biggest problems we have is GuySuCo, the sugar corporation is costing us billions; if I can put that money into the school system, the public health system, the University of Guyana you would have seen a transformation.”The President told reporters who appeared on The Public Interest that the government simply cannot afford to keep pumping billions of dollars into GuySuCo knowing that the nation’s development is at risk. He added that the “present model of GuySuco has failed.” Because of this, Granger said that Cabinet had an engagement with the management of GuySuCo “and there has to be change.” The Head of State said that he has committed to discussions with the opposition, unions, stakeholders and the public at large. “This is an industry established over 350 years. This is why our fore parents came to a place called British Guiana—to work on the sugar plantation,” said Granger.

The President told reporters that the sugar industry is the single oldest continuous industry in Guyana but, “it is haemorrhaging. The government cannot afford to keep on bailing it out. There has to be change, the very nature of the change is something difficult to be decided.”Repeating that the present model used for centuries has failed, Granger said that his government is at a modern model. “We want to protect the livelihood of the working people and we feel that there are some parts of the industry that can be made profitable.”Granger said that the needed changes must be realized in 2016.

(Kaieteurnews.com)