| Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo during his presentation on the 2017 budget defended hisPrime Minister Moses Nagamootoogovernment’s efforts to keep the sugar industry afloat. In doing so, the Prime Minister admitted that his government would have erred in not carrying out consultations with the workers and those who depend on the Wales Estate before proposing its closure.The Prime Minister made his presentation in the absence of the parliamentary opposition, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), whose members left the Public Buildings during the lunch break following the speech by leader of the opposition Bharrat Jagdeo.Nagamootoo said,China Jerseys Cheap, “I must admit that we slipped up. We should have gone earlier and engaged the workers and we should have placed the cards on the table.”Nagamootoo said,Cheap Hurricanes Jerseys, however,Cheap Colorado Avalanche Jerseys, that the workers at the estate were well aware that something had to be done concerning the estate, because the factory was losing relevance at a fast rate. He said that when a decision was made to merge factory operations with Uitvlugt Estate, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) communicated this to the workers and gave them an option which was those who want severance pay should take it.“GuySuCo committed itself to paying severance which would have allowed the workers to divorce themselves from sugar as a full occupation and go into some other business, that they may choose some other activity; farming, dairy, aquaculture or apiculture. They could do anything they want, but they needed support, after being connected to the factory for so many years.”Nagamootoo said that when GuySuCo announced that it would make the payment on May 13, 2016, the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers’ Union went ahead and filed a court action.“They got an injunction to restrain GuySuCo from paying the severance.”The Prime Minister accused the union of standing in the way of giving the workers another option besides sugar to make a living, since staying in the industry would mean a continued payment of union dues.He said that it could not be argued that his government is against saving sugar, as it had already made a $23B bailout of the industry since being in office a little over 18 months. Nagamootoo said that the Skeldon Estate which cost the state $50B has become one of the biggest poisons to the sugar industry,Carlton Fisk Jersey, which was built under the administration of the PPP/C.He said that the opposition continues to accuse the government of committing economic genocide based on the manner in which it has been handling the sugar industry. He said that this attack is at a time when the government has allocated within its 2017 budget an additional $9B to inject into the industry,CHeap NFL Jerseys China, an amount which he said could have been used in other sectors.He said that although these injections are a drain on the treasury, the deliberate action is justified since government is trying to keep the jobs of the sugar workers to ensure that their families have secured livelihoods while they look at alternatives to take them out of a meltdown.During Minister of Finance Winston Jordan’s budget speech two Mondays ago, he told the National Assembly that the sugar industry can neither be sustained nor maintained. He said,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic, “As currently structured, the industry would require Government’s support to the tune of $18.6B and $21.4B for the years 2017 and 2018 respectively. This is an untenable position, one that would seriously jeopardise the fiscal stance of the government,Wholesale NFL Jerseys Online, while compromising resource allocation to other critical and important areas.”Jordan said that the reality is that money injected into sugar presently is money wasted which would have no impact on the operating losses and cash deficit status of the industry. |
