Press Release: Uitvlugt Agrochemical allegations do not survive the records: Mr. Jordan should check the facts before chasing headlines

The Ministry of Agriculture has taken note of the statement issued by Hon. Vinceroy Jordan, MP, alleging the disappearance of “millions of dollars’ worth of agrochemicals” from the Uitvlugt Estate bond and calling on the Government, the Ministry and GuySuCo to “come clean”.

This is not the first time Mr Jordan has rushed to social media with sensational claims of corruption, cover-ups and missing public resources. It is now an established pattern, and each time the facts have caught up with him.

In July 2024, the Ministry dismissed the falsehoods he propagated about Inclusion Body Hepatitis in the poultry industry. In September 2024, the MMA/ADA rejected as false his Facebook claims of a “massive corruption scheme” and an “impending cover-up” at the Authority, and the Authority’s Vice-Chairman indicated that he would take legal action. That same month, GuySuCo itself described his allegations of corruption, including his claim of “missing sugar” at Rose Hall, as a “reckless exaggeration, full of misinformation, and devoid of facts”. There was no missing sugar. In March 2026, the Ministry was again compelled to correct “reckless” and “inflammatory” statements by Mr Jordan about state lands along the Mahaicony corridor.

Missing sugar at Rose Hall in 2024. Missing agrochemicals at Uitvlugt in 2026. The script never changes: an unnamed source, a sensational figure, a demand that the Government “come clean”, and no evidence. On each occasion, the claim has been debunked.

On this occasion, yet again, What Mr Jordan has presented as a scandal is an unverified allegation, repeated without a single figure, a single document or a single check against the records that GuySuCo keeps every day. Public resources must be protected. That is precisely why the controls at Uitvlugt exist, and those controls tell a very different story.

A DUAL-CONTROL SYSTEM, NOT AN OPEN DOOR

Herbicides at Uitvlugt are stored in the general stores controlled bond. The bond operates on a dual-locking system: stores personnel cannot open it without security, and security cannot open it without stores personnel. No single individual, whether a manager, a field officer or a security guard, can enter that bond alone.

Before any herbicide is issued, an electronic requisition must be completed and approved by the Agriculture Manager. Issues are made daily through the stores personnel, the senior staff and security at the bond, in the presence of the farm manager, the field superintendent and the security personnel stationed there. Every issue is recorded.

Only one day’s supply of herbicide is moved from the general stores into the day bond on any given day, equivalent to one day’s work for the chemical weed control area. Once herbicides leave the bond, they remain under the control of the foreman and the senior staff in charge of the area. Usage is monitored and recorded daily. Whatever is not used and is returned from cultivation is recorded as returned by the superintendent in charge and by security.

Issues to cane farmers are made only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The hard copy of the stores requisition must be signed by the Cane Farming Manager, the Agriculture Manager, the Finance Manager and the Estate Manager. At the bond, the cane farming senior staff, security and stores personnel deliver the chemicals and sign off on the issue.

Put simply, every movement of herbicide at Uitvlugt requires approval from management, witnesses from at least two separate functions and a written record. For agrochemicals to “disappear”, the stores, security, field supervision, senior management and finance would all have to collude, and the records would still expose them.

THE WEEKLY STOCK COUNT: NO VARIANCE

The most important safeguard is the weekly stock count. Every Thursday, the Stores Superintendent, the Superintendent in charge of chemical weed control and security jointly count the stock. This is not a desk exercise carried out by one person. It is a physical count, witnessed across three functions and recorded.

The most recent count was conducted on Thursday, October 29. There was no variance.

If millions of dollars’ worth of agrochemicals had left the Uitvlugt bond unaccounted for, it would have shown up in the count. It did not. The records exist and are available.

THE ORIGIN OF THE ALLEGATION

The Ministry is aware that the allegation appears to have come from an individual who is the subject of an internal administrative matter at the estate. The Ministry will not try that matter in the press. It notes only that an allegation directed at senior management by a person facing internal action must be weighed against the documented evidence, not accepted at face value and amplified on social media by a Member of Parliament.

Suffice it to state, no worker will be victimised for raising a genuine concern. However, raising a concern is not the same as proving one, and the controls described above are designed precisely so that claims can be tested against records.

GuySuCo does not regard any control system as beyond improvement. Management has already reminded all security personnel of the importance of complete and accurate record-keeping, and any lapses in documentation will be addressed administratively. That is how a functioning system tightens its own discipline. It is not evidence that chemicals have gone missing.

APNU’S SELECTIVE CONCERN FOR SUGAR

Mr Jordan speaks of taxpayers’ money and workers’ interests. The Ministry welcomes his interest in the sugar industry, but it would carry more weight if his party had shown the same concern when it was in government.

It was the APNU/AFC administration that closed the Wales, East Demerara, Rose Hall and Skeldon estates, directly affecting 7,047 workers: 5,262 permanent workers who were severed and another 1,785 temporary workers. It did so even though its own Commission of Inquiry did not recommend those closures at the time. The cost of that decision never appeared in any stock count or on GuySuCo’s books. It was paid by sugar families, private cane farmers and village businesses, many of whom are still dealing with the consequences. There was no press statement then about protecting public assets or workers’ livelihoods.

If Mr Jordan is concerned about public value going missing, he need look no further than his own party’s record. Between 2015 and 2020, the real value of agriculture, forestry and fishing fell from approximately G$224.9 billion to G$192.2 billion, a loss of G$32.7 billion in output. Since 2020, the sector has more than doubled, to approximately G$437 billion. Those figures do not come from an anonymous allegation. They are the Government’s official economic statistics.

The PPP/C Government has spent the years since 2020 rebuilding what was dismantled: restoring estates, re-engaging workers and investing in mechanisation, which now covers more than 41 per cent of cultivation, with a target of between 50 and 60 per cent. Sugar output grew by 19.3 per cent in the first half of 2026. The Minister has been clear that managers have to be more accountable now, and strong internal controls, such as those at Uitvlugt, are how that standard is enforced. A Government that tolerated missing chemicals would not be running weekly stock counts witnessed by three separate officers.

The Ministry reiterates that public resources at GuySuCo are subject to documented, multi-layered and verifiable controls. The Ministry will not allow unverified claims to damage the reputations of estate staff or to undermine confidence in an industry that thousands of Guyanese families depend on.

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