The recent letter published by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) in defence of the PPP Government’s failed sugar agenda is a masterclass in political deflection, historical revisionism, and hypocrisy. GAWU, widely seen as nothing more than a propaganda arm of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), has once again shown that it is more interested in shielding the ruling party than standing up for the very workers it claims to represent.
Let me be clear: the PPP Government promised the sugar workers—and the nation—that they would reopen the Wales and Skeldon sugar estates. Five years later, those promises remain broken, and those factories remain closed. These weren’t just campaign slogans—they were solemn commitments made to communities desperately clinging to hope. Instead of restoration, we see stagnation. Instead of revitalization, we see betrayal.
In the same breath that GAWU accuses me of “deception,” they remain silent on the fact that GUYSUCO owes over $700 million to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and another $300 million to its own pension scheme.These are funds deducted from workers’ earnings—workers who now risk losing their pensions and NIS benefits because of gross mismanagement and political gamesmanship. And what has GAWU done about it? Nothing. No protest, no advocacy, no accountability. Instead, they continue to blindly defend the PPP Government, even as the working class is being bled dry.
GAWU’s attempt to resurrect the ghost of 2015–2020 as a convenient distraction only exposes its desperation. While the APNU+AFC government made hard decisions—ones born out of economic reality and the need to stem the haemorrhaging of billions in taxpayer dollars—it never promised false hope. The PPP did. The PPP said, “we will reopen the closed estates.” They lied. Where are the jobs? Where is the prosperity GUYSUCO?
Again, I asked what has GAWU done for sugar workers lately? Did they protest the unpaid NIS and pension contributions? Did they hold the government accountable for five years of unfulfilled promises? Did they demand transparency in the billions pumped into GUYSUCO with no meaningful results? No—they remained mute, politically obedient, and morally bankrupt.
GAWU should be ashamed of itself. The union has reduced itself to nothing more than a press office for the PPP—completely abandoning its foundational purpose of protecting workers’ rights. Today, thousands of sugar workers are still unemployed, still suffering, and still being used as political pawns.
As a former mayor and a religious leader, I will continue to speak the truth—even when it is uncomfortable – even when it exposes the rot that has taken root in our national institutions. If that makes me a target for PPP operatives hiding behind union letterheads, so be it.
The truth does not need propaganda to defend it. The sugar workers of Guyana deserve real advocacy, real leadership, and real change—not more excuses. PROTECT THE SUGAR WORKERS and RE-OPEN THE SUGAR FACTORIES!!!
