By Stabroek News
Dear Editor,
I am compelled to respond to the letter penned by Mr. Seepaul Narine, President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), which is riddled with 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鈥檚 disgraceful record.
Let me begin by reminding Mr. Seepaul Narine that he occupies a seat in the Parliament of Guyana 鈥 as a marionette of the People鈥檚 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. For years, he 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, became even more of a political arm of the 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 鈥 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 鈥 a shadow of the estate鈥檚 former capacity. The workers know better. They live the broken promises every day.
As for GAWU鈥檚 defence of workers鈥 NIS and pension rights 鈥 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鈥 futures. Is that the 鈥渞epresentation鈥 Mr. Seepaul Narine is proud of? If anything, GAWU has become a defender of government failure, not a fighter for workers鈥 justice.
Mr. Seepaul Narine also attempted to discredit my stance by questioning my political history. But let me say this 鈥 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鈥檛.
Finally, I call upon Seepaul Narine to find some dignity and moral courage. Take a page from the late Komal Chand 鈥 a man who, despite his affiliation, was respected for putting the welfare of workers above politics. Komal Chand stood for something. Seepaul stands for nothing but his party鈥檚 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 鈥 and I will continue to stand with them in that cause.
Pt. Ubraj Narine, JP, COA
Former Staff Sgt. (GDF), Mayor
City of Georgetown