Nigel Hughes distorted the facts

Dear Editor,

I read with interest the report in the Kaieteur News on 9 July 2024 on Mr Nigel Hughes’ first press conference as leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), but I was disappointed.

I am disappointed that Mr. Hughes has adopted the same approach as previous and current PNC and AFC leaders. From the outset he has chosen to distort and misrepresent events in our country. It is old fashioned PNC politics.

He reportedly urged the government not to undertake large projects without feasibility studies, citing the Skeldon Sugar expansion project as an example. This could not be further from the truth.

The project is well planned. It was conceived when the European Union said it would end the Sugar Protocol, which had stipulated that sugar producers in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region had to guarantee prices.

The PPP/communist government joined its ACP allies in boycotting the EU plan. At the same time, it began preparing for the EU to eventually abandon the decades-old deal after losing a case brought by Australia and Brazil to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The government faces two choices: one is to close the industry, and the other is to take measures to keep the industry running and preserve jobs in the industry.
The government chose to take steps to save the industry and the jobs. The government tasked the GuySuCo board with developing a practical plan for the industry.

The committee took advantage of the talent in the field and hired international experts to develop the plan. Booker/Tate (BT) was selected as the international expert and engineer for the project.

The plan aims to transform the sugar industry from a pure raw sugar producer to an integrated enterprise with other sources of income while reducing the average cost of raw sugar production. The plan envisages the production of electricity (cogeneration); the construction of a new distillery and a refinery to process raw sugar into industrial sugar (white sugar) and other value-added products.

The plan was sound. The problem was implementation, and international experts Booker Tate were hired to do it. The board held Booker Tate responsible for many of the problems that arose from the project, which need not be elaborated on.

As a result of this judgment, the board refused to pay Booker Tate. BT decided to take the matter to court. GuySuCo sued Booker Tate and I thought we had a good chance of winning the case and making BT pay for its poor project management.

Unfortunately, after the change of government in 2015, the PNC and AFC regimes decided to return the withheld money to Booker Tate and withdraw the board’s lawsuit against BT from the court. This allowed Booker Tate to walk away with millions of dollars.

The PNC/CAF regime then closed the plantations and fired thousands of workers. This was a naked racial and political attack on the sugar workers, whom the PNC/CAF considered to be supporters of the PPP. From their (the PNC/CAF) distorted view, this move was aimed at damaging the PPP.

I say this because the industry was overcoming the problems at Skeldon when the PNC/AFC decided to close these mills. This is confirmed by the production figures for 2014 and 2015 when Skeldon was the leader in sugar production. Moreover, the technical team formed by the PNC/AFC to examine the operations of the industry did not recommend the closure of mills.

Mr. Hughes must have known all this, because the issue has been openly discussed for many years. As late as April this year, Mr. Vikram Odit and I had a conversation on the issue. The debate was not about the lack of planning, but whether the plan had been changed.

In addition to all of the above, Mr. Hughes must have been aware that he had served as counsel for Booker Tate in his case against GuySuCo while he was AFC Chairman. Therefore, the statements he made were said to be deliberately intended to mislead the public for narrow political purposes. He was clearly engaging in the politics of deception.
Finally, I would like to say that almost all the large projects undertaken by successive PPP/Civic governments have been carefully planned and feasibility studies have been conducted.

As far as I know, this is the only case where the PPP/C government did not take the advice of experts on bauxite mining in Linden. The experts recommended closing the company, but both President Jagan and Jagdeo refused to do so. They both worked hard to save the industry and the jobs of the workers. Their decision not only saved the industry, but also allowed Linden to continue to be a vibrant community.

Mr Hughes should try to add some integrity to the opposition’s propaganda rather than going down the old path of dishonesty and racism.

Sincerely,
Donald Ramotar
Former President of Guyana