…what is the purpose of Presidential mediation and with who on the board will the President mediate?

Dear Editor,

According to news report, when questioned on the sideline of a social event what will be done to address the dispute at Guysuco, the President said he plans to mediate between the CEO and the board. But several members of the board including the Chair and Vice Chair resigned, and several others said they can’t work with the CEO because he does not carry out directives of the board. The board has been stymied in its decision making because of political interference.  The board and CEO have been at logger heads for a long period ever since the CEO decided to do his own thing. Apparently, the board has been unable to terminate the CEO because interference. And the relationship between the CEO and responsible Minister has broken down.

So what is the purpose of Presidential mediation and with who on the board will the President mediate? No one knows sugar more than Tony Viera and Vishnu Panday and both are gone. Others who also know about sugar production, including agronomists and finance experts, have also been terminated or resigned because they said they had confrontation with or can’t work with the CEO. So many who knows about the industry, with decades of experience, and have the potential as well as capability to turn around the industry have been alienated and disrespected. Clearly mediation can’t work because most skilled and personnel have given up and left. Are all the people who left or were terminated wrong about the CEO? GAWU management and the CEO are also at odds and have called for the firing of the CEO. The future of GAWU is tied to sugar. Is Gawu wrong? Mr. P Dave, the resigned Chair, is a man of impeccable integrity who has grown a tiny indigenous bank into one of the most profitable and dominant institution in the financial sector. Was he also wrong about the CEO? It is clearly a hopeless situation with the CEO.

Isn’t it about time the CEO be held accountable? Isn’t about time that the honorable thing be done? When will the President act? Why is there a hands off policy on the CEO? Is he planted there for another purpose besides managing Guysuco? Is the industry being allowed to go under so as to reassign ownership of state land to selected cronies?

Yours truly,

Justin Defreitas