According to these ex-Caroni (1975) Limited employees, their labours in the sugar cane fields were anything but sweet, and they trusted one man to lead them.

That man, Basdeo Panday, along with other labour leaders, did a fine job in securing benefits for workers at every level of the industry.

So successful and popular was Panday that he was guaranteed support when he threw his hat into the political ring.

With staunch support from his sugar-belt strongholds, he eventually became Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Ten years later, his political career has seemingly come to a tragic end, and many of the same sugar workers say that while they aren’t happy to see their beloved labour and political champion go to jail, they aren’t sorry either.

This sentiment, often made known in private conversations but hardly ever said openly, was bared to all on the first night Panday spent in prison.

A caller to a television show, commenting on Panday’s conviction, said that the “tears of the daily paid sugar workers are now falling on Basdeo Panday.”

The caller went further: “He sold us out. He saw what was happening to us and he sat there and did nothing.”

The caller also said that he expected other heads to roll, including other members of the UNC and even some in the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).

Former Works Minister Franklin Khan and former Energy Minister Eric Williams, both on corruption charges immediately come to mind, one must also wonder if the caller was also referring to Social Services Minister Christine Sahadeo, the minister responsible for overseeing the dismantling of Caroni (1975) Limited.

Mirror asked two other former sugar workers if many others shared the caller’s sentiments.

One replied that even though he agreed that Panday could have put more pressure on government when it was finally decided to wind up the sugar company for good, he didn’t believe that Panday’s political career should end like that.

“Even if the workers feel that he abandoned them in their hour of need, we should still remember all the good things he did, for the sugar workers and rally around him in his hour of need,” the ex-Caroni worker said.

The other was less forgiving: “Now he go know how it fell to be used and kicked aside,” he said bitterly.

Mirror also spoke to a former member of the executive of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers’ Trade Union (ATSGWU) to find out if a majority of former sugar workers felt the same way.

The former executive member didn’t know if there was a majority, but he confirmed that “a lot of people are of that opinion.”

He explained that even though Panday had done much for the sugar employees, it is generally believed that he could have done more to save the sugar industry, especially while he was Prime Minister.

“When the restructuring issue arose, he could have done plenty more than he did, especially when he was in government,” he said.

The former union executive member reminded Mirror of a document prepared with input from many stakeholders in the industry.

The document, titled Prospects and Proposals for the Sugar Industry, was discarded and ignored by present and past administrations.

Research done by both foreign and local organisations on spin off industries using the by-products of sugar cane, and other opportunities to make the industry viable were also thrown out the window.

The former union executive also revealed that Panday, both as union leader and as Prime Minister, generally treated anyone with ideas for the restructuring of the industry with scant courtesy, in keeping with how he treated anyone who called for reform in the UNC.

The result, in his opinion, is that the workers paid the ultimate price, and a large number of these former sugar workers, many of them senior citizens, still face an uncertain future.

He reminded Mirror of an old saying still used by people in the countryside: “When old people cry on yuh, crapaud smoke yuh pipe.”