HGP Nightly News – When the PPP/C campaigned on reviving sugar and reopening estates that were shut down, the message to workers and communities was reassurance: sugar estates would be kept alive, not abandoned. Now, President Irfaan Ali is shifting from promise-making to pressure, telling GuySuCo’s leadership that poor performance will trigger consequences as early as the first crop of 2026.
Ali met on Saturday with GuySuCo’s Board of Directors and senior management and voiced blunt dissatisfaction with what he described as the estates’ weak performance and their failure to meet production targets for 2025. In a brief public update afterward, he said every estate will be held accountable, warning that once the first crop of 2026 begins, estates that miss targets “will see changes.”
The warning comes with hard numbers behind it. GuySuCo ended 2025 with 59,200 metric tonnes of sugar, still below its revised target of 60,000 metric tonnes, according to the figures carried in the report of the President’s engagement with the corporation. In recent months, Ali has also been signalling what he calls a tougher era of performance-based management at the corporation, arguing that investment must finally translate into results.
Reports on his remarks note that he has referenced long-running public criticisms of management culture in the industry, including concerns raised over time by former estate manager Vishnu Panday. The political contrast is now unavoidable.
The same administration that positioned itself as the one that would restore sugar and keep estates operating, pointing during the campaign period to plans to reopen shuttered operations, has now drawn a line for managers: deliver production, or expect shake-ups.
