Former Mayor Ubraj Narine Accuses GAWU President of Betraying Sugar Workers

Former Mayor of Georgetown and City Councillor, Ubraj Narine, has launched a scathing attack on the President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, accusing him of failing sugar workers and serving as a political pawn of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

In a sharply critical public letter, Ubraj Narine described Seepaul Narine’s leadership as “riddled with personal attacks, distortions, and deliberate deflection,” adding that GAWU has been reduced to a political arm of the ruling PPP.

“Mr. Seepaul Narine 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,” Narine stated. “His voice echoes the directives of his political masters rather than the cries of the suffering sugar workers.”

The exchange follows a response from Seepaul Narine, who defended GAWU’s record and expressed disappointment that a religious leader and public figure like Ubraj Narine would seek to “mislead and deceive.” GAWU’s president accused the former mayor of political posturing and trying to “boost [his] waning political credentials,” while reaffirming the union’s commitment to defending the working class.

But Ubraj Narine fired back, slamming GAWU’s silence on broken promises to reopen the Wales and Skeldon sugar estates—commitments made by the PPP government that remain unfulfilled after five years. “Skeldon is a ghost of its former self, and Wales lies in ruins,” Narine wrote.

He noted that while Seepaul Narine boasts of 1,500 hectares of cultivation at Skeldon, this is a mere shadow of the estate’s former operations. The factory, built at a cost of US$110 million, was intended to produce up to 110,000 tonnes of sugar per year but never came close to meeting that target. The highest recorded output was just 39,153 tonnes in 2015.

In addition to operational failures, Ubraj Narine took aim at GAWU’s inaction on outstanding financial obligations to sugar workers. He highlighted GuySuCo’s debts of over $700 million to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and $300 million to its pension fund, and criticized GAWU for failing to publicly and forcefully advocate for affected workers.

Although GAWU has acknowledged the issue and said it represents individual cases as they arise, the former mayor said this reactive approach is insufficient. “If anything, GAWU has become a defender of government failure, not a fighter for workers’ justice,” he declared.

Responding to criticism of his own political past, Narine said, “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.”

In a pointed conclusion, Ubraj Narine invoked the legacy of the late Komal Chand, the respected former GAWU president and PPP Member of Parliament, who was widely regarded for putting workers’ welfare before party loyalty.

“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.”

Narine signed the letter in his capacity as Justice of the Peace, Commissioner of Oaths, and former Staff Sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force. His remarks reflect growing frustration among sections of the public and political opposition over what they see as GAWU’s politicization and failure to stand up for sugar workers in the face of broken promises and economic hardship.

Notably, under the PPP Constitution, GAWU is recognised as the party’s industrial arm, and its president is constitutionally guaranteed a seat on the PPP’s Executive Committee.