GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Feb 20, CMC –The main opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Monday criticised the decision to close down sugar estates here saying it could lead to unrest in Guyana.

“There is no doubt in or mind even if the People’s Progressive Party is not in the forefront of leading the protests against this arbitrary course that this government is undertaking, we can assume that the same sentiment that put the protesters on the streets of Georgetown will have protesters all over the sugar belt were this course of action to be continued,” PPP Executive Committee member, Roger Luncheon, told a news conference.

Flanked by PPP’s executive member, Irfan Ali, the former head of the Presidential Secretariat, said the move by the David Granger government to close the sugar estates “will cause a confrontation.

“If we use one current example- the parking meters- and we use a feature of this Granger government, no consultation, you see where it leads,” he told reporters.

The opposition has also called on the government to conduct a socio-economic impact study before deciding on the future of the Guyana Sugar Company (GUYSUCO).

The government has since coming to power in 2015, closed one major estate here and sugar workers are resisting attempts to have them move to another estate.

Luncheon told reporters the fears that protests could erupt across several villages where the sugar industry is a major contribution to economic development.

Ali said politically, the PPP would be seeking more options in the “interest of the workers, the industry and the country.

 “We are making that call that no estate should be closed because the studies that should inform such decisions have not been completed,” he added.