President reads “riot act” to GuySuCo’s top brass, warns “heads will roll”

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 December 2024, 21:59 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali 0n Friday said he read the “riot act” to the management of the loss-making and low-producing Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), even as the entity’s new investment plan was being considered by government.

“I’ve read the riot act to the management of GuySuCo. I’ve let them understand that we are very dissatisfied with the performance,” he said in a pre-recorded engagement with hand-picked members of the media on the lawns of State House.

Dr Ali said the corporation’s management has presented an investment plan to ensure that the factories remain operational.  The Guyanese leader said he warned management that if the sugar production target was off mark stern action would be taken. “I made it very clear that if the target for 2025, the first crop target and the second crop target…if those targets are not achieved then heads will roll,” he said in the engagement that was broadcast on social media Saturday night.

Dr Ali said the management of the state-owned sugar corporation needed to turn around the company, despite known difficulties with the condition of the field and “downtime” in the factories. “While we invested in the fields and having the canes in the fields, the focus on the factories that were left abandoned for a long time; the maintenance of these factories was non-existent,” he said.

The President said the factories were closed and broken down for a prolonged period resulting in lower production.

The Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo, Paul Cheong, a Central Executive member of the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), has refused to respond to media questions or failed to disseminate promised media statements on the state of the sugar industry.

For several decades, GuySuCo’s production has been declining and the cost of production at US$1.31 per pound exceeds the selling price of US$0.35 cents per pound.

While the overall production target was approximately 70,000 tonnes, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union had said that as of October 26, 2024, that company produced 24,711 tonnes or just 39% of its second crop target of 63,276 tonnes.

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), whose administration had closed several estates and laid off an estimated 7,000 workers, has called for a second Commission of Inquiry into the state of the ailing industry.