Dear Editor,
It is quite noticeable that one of GuySuCo’s ex-executives, Mr Dwarka Bahadur, now a political mule for the WIN party, has taken to social media to lecture Guyanese on the Government’s handling of GuySuCo’s affairs.
Mr Bahadur, like his handler, Mr Azruddin Mohamed, has morphed into a self-made politician out of deep personal need. In Mr Bahadur’s case, he lost his cushy job as Technical Director-Operations at GuySuCo due to non-performance in 2024.
Editor, Mr Bahadur has a history of failures and misgivings, and an air of elitism and arrogance in GuySuCo which many employees (past and present) are familiar with. I will not delve too much into his history but will address his time in the company over the last 10 years or so.
During the period 2013–2014, Mr Bahadur served as Manager, Technical Services Demerara Estates, a portfolio that requires application of deep technical knowledge (not eloquent speeches and classic reports). Very soon in that portfolio, it was clear that he was a misfit and lacked the commitment. Having realised that he was a square peg in a round hole that may lead to his termination due to incompetence, Mr Bahadur quietly requested early retirement from GuySuCo and exited GuySuCo. He later secured a job in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) – there is also history on how this job was secured.
Fast forward to 2015/2016. The APNU Govt installed a new executive team at GuySuCo. The new executive team went to work at lighting speed in the Technical Departments, where conditions were created within the Factory Operations Department to force several technical staff members to resign or settle for lesser jobs such that openings are created for APNU-aligned personnel. Mr Bahadur, having observed the ongoing machinations from T&T by APNU, pleaded with the new executive to re-join the industry, having observed vacancies.
The APNU-aligned executive team then hired Mr Bahadur as the Manager of Special Projects. With Mr Bahadur back in GuySuCo’s employment, it effectively means he continued to receive his GuySuCo pension in addition to an executive salary. Where was Mr Bahadur’s honesty, moral high ground and interest of the people when he was receiving multiple benefits, or did he forgo his pension during re-employment?
In Mr Bahadur’s new role as Manager of Special Projects, he was responsible for all projects, including the highly touted white sugar project at Albion Factory, where the Government intended to add capability to Albion Factory to produce and package 50,000 tonnes of white sugar by 2022. The APNU Government had secured a syndicated loan for this and other projects. Can Mr Bahadur tell Guyana on his social media platform where the syndicated loan is and where the white sugar from Albion is? Is this another bungled project that is associated with his leadership?
In October 2022, the Board of GuySuCo opted to offer Mr Bahadur another opportunity to redeem himself from past failures by appointing him as Technical Director of Operations Director because of “necessary skills” to aid the Government to achieve objectives. Unfortunately, it was a costly error that caused the corporation to miss its target for 2023 and 2024. The Board, therefore, had no alternative but to be decisive and end the service of an incompetent Technical Director-Operations to avoid further losses.
Mr Bahadur, of all persons, should know about decisive actions by boards, given that he was afforded a series of academic training courses paid for by GuySuCo, the same company he brutalises in his social media rants. Does Neemakaram sound familiar?