Dear Editor,
I must congratulate President Ali for his highly extraordinarily perceptive statement with regard to the “Panday Syndrome”. The President stated that, “The Panday syndrome must be removed…mismanagement and poor management disguised by class talk and fanciful language will be removed.” I have noticed that Panday’s attempt to dispute the President’s factual statement was given prominence in a section of the media as a letter to the editor (November 25) and as a headlined article on November 27.
Panday’s claim of “political interference and bad decisions” will fly straight in his face when the facts are deciphered since he served as an estate manager, on the board of directors and as a former agriculture director.
Those in the management structure of GuySuCo are acutely aware of the veracity of this statement. President Ali is not a leader who makes irrelevant, erroneous and idle statements; his delivery on issues is always based on careful objective analysis of the factual information presented to him. He is never a leader who concludes rashly on any issue, and when he does, he delivers with surgical precision. The former Agriculture Minister, by his own admission, served in various capacities in GuySuCo, and his appointments were always based on his ability to convince the Government with his “class talk and fanciful language”. He was all talk and no substance. Anyone listening to Panday would be convinced that his decades of experience in GuySuCo equipped him with the competence needed to turn the ailing corporation around; he has all the talks but no action. He was unable to motivate the agriculture team to deliver. The warning by the President is timely and apt since it is possible that someone in the management structure may try to cover up incompetence with said “class talk and fanciful language”.
Those who know Panday would know that since his days as the Agriculture Manager, Estate Manager and lately as the Agriculture Director, he was never able to motivate his team because of his arrogance and downright abrasive attitude. In addition, since his days as agriculture manager, he victimised and discriminated against lower-level management staff whom he personally disliked. A former agriculture manager who was a senior AFM confided to me that he was told that he would never be promoted once he, Panday, was the estate manager. Panday personally admitted to me in December 2024, when he knew that his contract would not be renewed, that his major flaw is his abrasive attitude, which came naturally to him. He was never open to suggestions and advice from those below him – it was his way or the highway. He cannot condemn the Government for decisions which he was part and parcel of. His autocratic and dictatorial style of leadership belongs to “Massa days”. He was outdated, outmoded and obsolete. These exaggerated his incompetence, and that was the main reason why his contract was not renewed.
Moreover, I have spoken to a WIN MP who confided in me that Panday practised the same style during the WIN campaign, which caused him to be highly unpopular among the WIN members. But, again, his “class talk and fanciful language” bore dividends. He is the one-eyed man in a blind man’s country.
Unfortunately, “class talk and fanciful language” is not the only weapon in his arsenal. He wilfully lied and peddled deceitful statements to persuade gullible people. During the 2025 WIN Election Campaign, he blatantly lied about Rose Hall Estate. He claimed, among other things, that the Rose Hall Factory was never fully rehabilitated and that the former technical director, Dwarka Bahadur (another WIN candidate), can confirm that all that was done to the factory was to “change some zinc, paint around the place, spruce up one or two fine things and do one or two things on the carrier… the factory was always there; it was not decommissioned… all they did was change the oil and get it going.” I have noticed that he no longer makes this claim but has embarked on making a new set of claims which he knows that the average man will not be able to verify but will be carried away by the sheer sensationalism embodied therein. I will not be addressing each of these absurdly false and deceitful claims but will refer him to the audited reports from 2020 to 2023. Those who have eyes, let them see, and seeking the truth is a sacred duty.
Political interference was not a big problem when the same politicians gave him many opportunities to redeem himself after being dismissed as the Estate Manager of Skeldon Estate in 2010 for reasons including poor performance, insubordination, and alleged questionable transactions (see Joel Bhagwandin’s article captioned “Former sugar analyst blasts Vishnu Panday; calls him ‘a cautionary tale of hypocrisy and decline’” dated 23rd August, 2025). He was later rehired in various capacities, including his last journey as Agriculture Director, which ended in December 2025 after his contract was not renewed. He squandered every opportunity given because of his innate arrogance and asinine behaviour and his insane quest to be the CEO. He simply cannot work under anyone. I wonder if he would have ventured to make these false claims if his contract was renewed in 2025. During his tenure in various capacities, he never once spoke about political interference because he was the beneficiary, and it was he who made several bad decisions.
Moreover, to hide his head like the proverbial ostrich and decry the poor production performance of GuySuCo and blame political interference and bad decisions is a deliberate act of hypocrisy and dishonesty. He is acutely aware of the debilitating factors affecting production and productivity. He himself echoed these at various meetings with the respective estate’s management. These included heavy rainfall, dry spells, disrupted factory operations and labour shortages. But his major problem was being able to motivate the agriculture team to overcome the controllable factors. He cannot mask his incompetence by crying “political interference and bad decisions”.
Lastly, it is quite ludicrous and reeks of arrogance that Panday would claim glory for the increased sugar production of 60,000 tonnes in 2023 but remained deafeningly silent on the poor production of 47,103 under his tenure in 2024. If he deserved the praise in 2023, then he definitely deserved the axe in 2024. The Panday Syndrome is real and must not be allowed to germinate in GuySuCo.