MP calls for release of Rose Hall estate first crop audit

Vinceroy Jordan
Vinceroy Jordan

-amid concerns about unaccounted for sugar

APNU+AFC MP Vinceroy Jordan yesterday cast doubt on  an explanation by GuySuCo over alleged unaccounted for sugar from the Rose Hall factory and has called for the release of the audit of the first crop this year at the estate.

In a statement, Jordan adverted to a  report in yesterday’s Stabroek News where the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)  denied that sugar was unaccounted for from Rose Hall Estate but said that there had been an overstatement by 243 tonnes. Consequently, two persons were dismissed from their jobs in the industry. The statement from GuySuCo added that “what had occurred was a major breach in the standard operating procedure for sugar declaration (over a period of time) which resulted in an over declaration, which was deemed a serious misconduct.”

In his statement, Jordan said that GuySuCo of all entities should know that this response is “merely a top-of-the-surface rush to the defence of the Minister of Agriculture and the Agency…”

He sought clarity on the matter.

“Guyanese would want to ask if indeed it was the two officers fired that were involved in the overstatement of this misconduct or whether the plot widens. Or even whether it was a ploy to cover the PPP/C mis- management and failure at the Rose Hall Estate?

“With regard to the overstatement of the production, one must query if government understands that the first line of recording, tabulating, and even preliminary declarations are made by the Factory Hand which is a level of staff responsible for accounting and recording production per shift which is made known on a whiteboard visible to other staff, that information proceeds to the Lab Technician then to the Senior Lab Technician (who verifies the figures of production) for onward transmission to the Production Manager and thereafter to the Factory Manager. This should lead to the question; how is it that this overstatement was not detected, at least at one of the various levels of verification? This is clearly an attempt to cover up and hide the failure and the facts”, Jordan said.

Having knowledge of this procedure he said that the PNCR/APNU is calling on the Minister of Agriculture to make the audit of the first crop of 2024 at Rose Hall Estate Factory public.

Turning to the dismissal of the two staff members, he said that the Minister of Agriculture would know that the very Production Manager at Rose Hall was fired by the APNU+AFC Administration for similar actions of lack of accountability in relation to the total production of sugar at the Uitvlugt Estate factory along with several other staff. It was the PPP/C Administration that rehired the Manager, Jordan said.

He said that GuySuCo received in excess of 30 billion dollars in subventions from the government of Guyana in just under four years and in its first two completed audited years under the PPP/C administration the sugar corporation lost almost 20 billion between 2021 and 2022 according to its annual audit.

Last week Thursday workers were informed that the estate’s production manager and the head lab technician had been let go. They were also informed of the person who would be replacing the production manager.

Factory workers after being informed of the replacement for the production manager became annoyed as they claimed that that person was previously stationed at the estate prior to its closure and was accused of turning a blind eye to the dumping of sugar and damaging of canes.

Factory workers who were on shift on Thursday evening turned up to the estate but then proceeded to strike, while the same happened on Friday morning.

A representative for the workers, Gairaj Ramotar, had explained that “we get to understand them knock off two man… Now them bring one man (name given) to take over but that man work at Rose Hall Estate, he close down this estate and them bring he back. He a the man who stick this cane and when the man tell he no, them knock off that man, one set of story and he make the estate close… He work with them to close the estate. Them workers say them na want he here.”

Additionally, Ramotar said, that they were not fully informed as to the reasons behind the firing of the two staff. He stressed, “Abbay na want that man here, that’s why abbay deh out here.”

Based on information gathered on Friday, a handful of workers along with a representative met with the industrial relations manager at the estate, while sources at GAWU on Saturday maintained that the union does not have a say on the placement of managers within the corporation. The Rose Hall estate reopened only in September of 2023 after being shut under the Granger administration in 2017.