AFC has betrayed sugar workers – Agriculture Minister

[www.inewsguyana.com] –Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy is of the view that the Alliance For Change (AFC) has betrayed the Guyanese sugar workers, after the Party decided to support a Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in its call for a shift from decades of sugar production into a direction of ethanol production and aquaculture.

The Agriculture Minister in a statement noted “Khemraj Ramjattan and the AFC have again exposed themselves. They have again betrayed the sugar workers of Guyana. Just one day after APNU declared its intention to close down GUYSUCO if they have a chance in government, the AFC endorsed APNU’s plan to close the sugar industry.”

The AFC Leader told iNews during an interview on Wednesday (March 12) that since 2011 the Party in its Action Plan, and even prior to that, had pointed out that it was necessary for the industry to make the shift to ethanol production, adding that the prices on the world market is not likely to get any better.

In response to this, Minister Ramsammy said, “As a PPP/C Minister of Agriculture and as a citizen of Guyana, I am grateful that they have signaled their intention with such daring clarity.”

He further noted, “The AFC and their leaders should be ashamed of themselves. The PNC and APNU have a long history of being anti-sugar workers and being against the sugar industry. We are, therefore, not surprised that they have a plan to close down GUYSUCO and to abandon sugar.”