Dear Editor,
I am compelled to respond to the editorial penned by Mr. Seepaul Narine, President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), which is riddled with personal attacks, distortions, and deliberate deflection. Mr. Seepaul Narine, instead of addressing the core failures of GAWU under his leadership, chose to launch into a tired political diatribe meant to shield his own inadequacies and GAWU’s disgraceful record.
Let me begin by reminding Mr. Seepaul Narine that he occupies a seat in the Parliament of Guyana — not as a true representative of sugar workers, but as a marionette of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). It is clear that his voice echoes the directives of his political masters rather than the cries of the suffering sugar workers.
Seepaul Narine should be ashamed of himself. For years, he has sat in the National Assembly and failed to bring meaningful change, improvement, or advocacy for those who once trusted him to defend their livelihoods. GAWU, under his watch, has become more even a political arm of the communist PPP, a puppet institution that parades as a union while betraying the very workers it claims to represent.
Sugar workers have not forgotten the promises made by the PPP and echoed by GAWU — that Wales and Skeldon estates would be reopened. Five years later, those promises remain empty. Skeldon is a ghost of its former self, and Wales lies in ruins. Mr. Seepaul Narine brags about 1,500 hectares of cultivation at Skeldon but fails to tell the nation that this is a mere fraction of what once existed — a shadow of the estate’s former capacity. The workers know better. They live the broken promises every day.
As for GAWU’s defence of workers’ NIS and pension rights — that is laughable at best. GuySuCo owes over $700 million to the NIS and $300 million to its pension scheme, and GAWU has done nothing to publicly condemn or organize against this robbery of workers’ futures. Is that the “representation” Mr. Seepaul Narine is proud of? If anything, GAWU has become a defender of government failure, not a fighter for workers’ justice.
Mr. Seepaul Narine also attempted to discredit my stance by questioning my political history. But let me say this — I am not afraid to stand with the sugar workers now because the truth knows no time limit. If I did not speak out before, I speak now and will continue to do so. What matters is that someone is speaking because Mr. Seepaul Narine clearly isn’t.
Finally, I call upon Seepaul Narine to find some dignity and moral courage. Take a page from the late Komal Chand — a man who, despite his affiliation, was respected for putting the welfare of workers above politics. Komal Chand stood for something. Seepaul, you stand for nothing but your party’s agenda. Sugar workers deserve better than a puppet union. They deserve leaders who speak truth to power, not bow before it. They deserve justice, fairness, and a future free from betrayal — and I will continue to stand with them in that cause.
Yours truly,
Pt.Ubraj Narine, JP, COA
Former Staff Sgt.(GDF), Mayor
City of Georgetown
