The GAWU saw that August 07, 2018 Kaieteur News reported that Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said that the Administration had received a proposal expressing “…interest for the entire industry…”. Though we noted that the Minister hadn’t expressed, according to the report, the Government’s position on the matter the fact that it has been publicly disclosed says a lot in our view.
The Kaieteur News article reported that the proposal which was submitted by parties from the Middle East, the United States, India and Guyana had proposed that new factories be built and focus will be “…on packaging and co-generation and other value-added activities”. This is an often heard sales pitch where sky-high promises are made but the reality is usually very different. In Jamaica, the GAWU recalls, similar promises were made when the industry was sold a few years ago. An August 17, 2011 Jamaica Information Service report had said “COMPLANT International, the China-based company which has acquired the state-owned assets of Jamaica’s sugar industry, is now set to roll out its investment of some US$156 million to renovate three factories and sugar cane lands over the next four years.” Now less than a decade later, unsurprisingly, but more disturbingly, is that the new private owners have pulled out and leaving many in limbo. We believe we ought to know that all that glitters isn’t gold.
But more importantly the announcement by the Government could be construed as an interesting about turn by the Administration. We recall Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, just days ago, in a July 27, 2018 DPI report said in relation to the recently secured $30B financing that Government was seeking to have “…GuySuCo… back on its feet; not as expanded before but in a way where it can stand on its own feet”. Similar sentiments were also expressed by other Government officials and spokespersons and the Administration had said the bond was a tangible demonstration of its commitment to seeing GuySuCo succeed. Therefore, the sudden announcement that there was a possibility that the remaining state-owned estates could be sold off only serves to further undermine the Administration’s credibility in our view. We are hopeful that better sense would prevail and that the Government carefully considers, even at this belated stage, its approach to the sugar industry. The GAWU urges that we learn from the pitfalls of others and not repeat them.
