THE EDITOR, Sir:

WHILE WE anxiously await the outcome of the bidding process for the publicly owned sugar factories, there are a few facts that need mentioning.

Shortly after the factories were bought back for a mere $1, the then Minister of Agriculture made a trip to a country of the same size and demography as Jamaica, which had five publicly owned factories. In an effort to benchmark the Jamaican sugar industry off this country, the minister proposed that all the factories put together should have one chief executive officer, one operations manager, one factory manager, one human resources manager, etc. All these managers were expected to drive Land Rovers which are appropriate and which is what is being driven in this very successfully run small country's sugar industry.

The plan was stillborn - it never saw the light of day. The minister not only lacked the political will, but the moral courage to see it through. As a result of his weakness, seven years later we have a sugar industry owing not $3.5 billion, as it started out at,but $9 billion and counting, all this despite a plethora of highly educated technocrats on loan from the Bank of Jamaica, and with two senior ministers of government overseeing the industry.

The taxpayers are fed up with the industry; MPs whose constituents depend on sugar are fed up; and the Opposition does not give a damn. We understand the minister's need to be cautious in light of previous attempts at divestment which failed - the NetServe scandal and the Mirant fiasco - but history offers no templates for success. Therefore, the minister cannot continue to pussyfoot around.

I am, etc.,

MARK CLARKE.

mark_clarke9@yahoo.com