Tewarie appeals: Don’t destroy sugar communities

COMMUNITIES who share a symbiotic relationship with the local sugar industry must not be destroyed as Government undertakes the inevitable restructuring of Caroni (1975) Limited. This was the appeal yesterday from University of the West Indies (St Augustine) Principal, Dr Bhoe Tewarie who also warned that failure to do this “would create conditions for sitting on a powder keg”. 

Addressing a seminar entitled “Caroni Lands: Sustainable Solutions” at UWI’s Learning Resource Centre in St Augustine, Dr Tewarie said Caroni’s restructuring was happening at a time when revolutionary changes were occurring in the global sugar industry and referred to a recent decision by sugar-producers Australia and Brazil to challenge the preferential price system currently afforded to their European Union rivals.

Noting that Caroni was a complex equation with political, social and economic elements, Tewarie said it was UWI’s responsibility to ensure that the issue was addressed rationally. The UWI principal added that the foundations of many communities in Trinidad and Tobago rested upon the sugar industry and “these communities must not be discarded on to the rubbish heap of history” as Caroni is restructured. That restructuring process, Tewarie continued, must be fully transparent in order to have the best chance of success. “The lives and traditions of entire communities are at stake. The plight of those connected to sugar must not be ignored,” the UWI Principal declared. Tewarie stated that a host of restructuring Caroni plans had been advanced over the years with the one now being proposed by the Government as being the most revolutionary and it was difficult to say whether its effects would be “benign or malignant”.

Noting that Caroni affected the lives of approximately 64,000 people directly or indirectly, Tewarie told his audience that the solution to the sugar industry’s perennial problems required imagination, generosity of spirit, equal treatment of all citizens and careful management of the restructuring process. Highlighting Caroni’s current land acreages and possible scenarios for their future use, Tewarie’s fellow presenter Wayne Kublalsingh warned that if due care was not exercised, it could lead to an unpredecented rush to grab Caroni lands.