Manufacturers body urges dialogue resumption without conditionalities
Wants July 3 enquiry
Stabroek News
July 18, 2002
The Guyana Manufacturers' Association (GMA) is urging the government and the opposition PNC/R to resume their high level dialogue and without any conditionalities.
And in pressing for the resumption of the dialogue, the GMA says it should now be expanded to include all the parliamentary parties, as well as some elements of civil society in order to make it a national process. The dialogue was suspended by the PNC/R as it was unhappy with how agreed decisions were being implemented.
According to a GMA press release yesterday, this expansion of the dialogue will remove the previous disagreements on what was agreed and not agreed.
Nothing less than an all-inclusive forum can begin the process of peace and restoration in the Guyanese society, the association said, adding that it would commit its human and other resources to this 'peace and stability' process.
The press release follows a statutory meeting the manufacturers body held on July 9 when many members of its executive as well as chairman of the Private Sector Com-mission, Brian James, discussed the current national situation.
The GMA is also calling on the government to establish a broad-based commission of enquiry into the events of Wednesday, July 3. The GMA condemned the unauthorised entry into the Office of the President that day which led to the deaths of two persons and the arson attacks on buildings and the continued reprehensible and personal attacks directed at Guyanese citizens, both young and old, but on women in particular who were stripped and robbed.
The association commended all "decent people who came to the rescue of those persons who were so brutally robbed and molested."
"All of these acts of violence are simply criminal and speak to a new level of lawlessness, which is on the increase in our country," the association declared.
It also expressed the view that "there is no possible justification for these acts of violence, (and) they are not an acceptable response to real, or perceived acts of government discrimination, corruption, extra-judicial killings, and other charges."
"These charges of injustice must be addressed in another form and at an appropriate forum. Violence of this form serves only to undermine the legitimacy of such charges," the association asserted.
Calling on the country's political leaders to denounce acts of violence, the GMA urged them to also refrain from any actions which could lead to a further degeneration of the present situation.
"This is a critical moment for all Guyanese," the manufacturers body noted, and "it would not be an overstatement to suggest that if we continue as we have done in the recent past, Guyana would be sunk permanently into "the failed state" condition."
Looking at some of the effects of the prevailing crisis, the association observed that the Guyanese society of all races is traumatised and lives in a state of fear, while many more of its citizens wish to migrate.
It noted further that businesses, especially manufacturers, which are already in decline and suffering losses, are likely to close. The only area of growth here, the association remarked, seems to be in security activity and even that may be in decline given the killings and targeting of security guards and police personnel.
Local and foreign investors and investment are also dwindling while foreign investors are afraid to invest here, the GMA said.
The association said that it expects President Bharrat Jagdeo and the ruling PPP/C are prepared to honour the commitments they gave in the dialogue with the opposition and it also trusts that PNC/R leader Desmond Hoyte, who it noted has been recognised as a statesman, will re-engage the process of dialogue.