Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda Gopaul today announced the establishment of a Commission of Enquiry to investigate the charges made by the workers of the Blairmont Sugar Estate, Region Five.
In a letter to the General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, the Minister indicated that the Committee will comprise Dr. Dale Bisnauth as Chairman, Industrial Relations Officer, Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Deodat Sukhu and Mohamed Akeel.
He also called for full resumption of work and urged the workers to allow for due process and a mechanism that is fair to all, to prevail.
The Committee will commence its work as soon as work is resumed and is expected to submit its findings within three weeks.
“I would also like to assure workers that GuySuCo has made a commitment to pay Annual Production Incentive (API) by March 16, 2012, to honour the recommendations for the joint Job Evaluation Team and to effect payments in accordance with the results of the findings of that evaluation committee before the end of June 2012,” the Minister’s letter stated.
The letter also registered GuySuCo’s concerns over the frequent strikes which are resulting in serious financial impacts on the industry and emphasised that if this continues, the Corporation’s ability to make payments on time will be in jeopardy.
It pointed out that the industry has certain marketing commitments and unwarranted work stoppages can impede its recovery process. Additionally, given the weather current patterns, it is important to maximise the opportunity days for harvesting and grinding of sugar cane to the fullest.
Meanwhile, GuySuCo issued a release in which it outlined its current financial status and appealed to workers to appreciate the industry’s difficulties.
In continued efforts to ensure Guyana retains the reputation of being the Caribbean’s bread basket, government has over the years invested significantly into the agriculture sector and in diversification of its products. As part of those efforts government recognized the need to have facilities that will package and store farmers’ produce for export.
Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture Alli Baksh this afternoon visited the New Guyana Marketing Corporation’s (GMC) Agro Packaging Facility located at Parika, East Bank Essequibo.
At the facility, Minister Baksh held discussions with GMC’s General Manager Nizam Hassan on the way forward for the facility as it is currently in the process of being extended to accommodate nontraditional produce. The facility currently packages cassava, sweet potatoes and eddoes.
Minister Baksh said the facility is very important to the farmers in the Essequibo and Pomeroon as it offers easy access to the facility and it is close to the market.
“Farmers can bring their produce here and ensure it is prepared to standards that are acceptable for exportation and for the market which is close by,” Minister Baksh said.
The Minister believes that the new GMC has been doing a fantastic job to provide assistance to farmers using the means and resources that are available to visit their farms, interact with them to ascertain the level of intervention that is needed.
“Right here in Parika there are thousands of acres of farm lands in nontraditional crops and farmers are encouraged to go more as government has provided them with the necessary capacities to do so such as roads and access to loans…what we are trying to do is to encourage farmers to grow more and provide better facilities, not only a packaging plant but, also drainage and irrigation which has been improving over the years, “Minister Baksh said.
This, he said is good for the country’s Gross Domestic Product as the increase in growth of agricultural products would ultimately mean an increase in exportation.
“We can say that in the future farmers will have better opportunities of accessing such facilities as they continue to grow more which will benefit them first,” Minister Baksh said
He further said that government is not only investing through the new GMC to upgrade the facility but, is also looking for partnerships with both local and foreign farmers.
“We already have partnership with the farmers of Parika…we are establishing partnership with an individual entity from Trinidad which would see the expansion of this facility…we ideally prefer to have partnerships with locals who produce on a large scale for exportation,” Minister Baksh said.
Whilst in Parika, he also examined an old storage facility on the Parika Stelling and interacted with a pineapple farmer from Bonasika.
The Parika Packaging facility is strategically located between the Parika Stelling and the area’s market. Its strategic location allows for easy access for farmers transporting their produce via the Essequibo River.
A few days earlier, Minister Baksh visited the Central Packaging Facility located at the National Exhibition Complex, Sophia and held discussions with the facility’s Manager and an exporter.
The Health Ministry stands on four critical pillars – equity of access, value for money, client satisfaction and quality service but these cannot hold strong unless there exist medical professionals who are able to effectively and adequately deliver health care services. To ensure that the health system has an adequate complement of professionals, the Ministry has made available clinical and technical training programmes which are open to youths from all over the country.
Most recently it has been recognised that a lot of youths from the hinterland regions are applying for medical training in the nursing and technical programmes.
Director, Regional Health Services, Dr. Narine Singh explained that 10 years ago only persons from the coast applied for the programmes but now more persons from the hinterland are showing interest. This can be attributed to the improved educational achievements of hinterland students who are able to meet the entry requirements of the Health Ministry.
Within the next month, a number of professional and assistant nurses, from the recently graduated batch, will be deployed to the hinterland with moist of them actually returning home.
These new nurses will aid in delivering care to the increased patient load and services at the district hospitals.
It is expected that in a few years equity of health care in the hinterland will improve and realise the Ministry’s goal of ensuring equitable distribution of health care throughout the country.
Meanwhile Coordinator, Indigenous Peoples Communities, Michael Gouveia stated that the Ministry is strengthening its supervisory visits to the hinterland regions so as to ensure that quality health care is delivered.
He explained that the Ministry now has a more collaborative working relationship with agencies including the Ministries of Amerindian Affairs, Local Government and Regional Development and Education, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and people in the communities so as to garner information early.
Gouveia indicated that the robust MEDIVAC programme is still on-going and provides the opportunity for critically ill patients to be air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Last year over 70 patients were air-lifted via 60 flights.
