Private Sector Unity
EDITORIAL
Stabroek News
February 12, 2004
There is a perceived rift in relations between the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the President and it is understood that various initiatives are being taken by the private sector to address it.
The ball is now in the President's court and his response will dictate how the sidelining of the PSC from two of his meetings with the wider private sector in recent weeks is resolved.
The President is aware of the need for a good working relationship with the private sector, especially the umbrella PSC and it is likely that the sidelining of the umbrella organization from two important meetings which discussed among other things, a second Presidential Summit, will be downplayed as a misunderstanding.
But it was not a misunderstanding. While the private sector may accept any excuse from the government in good faith so as to allow for the door to dialogue with the government to remain open, the government has to behave in a responsible manner and not just mouth clichés about the the private sector being the engine of growth. It has to show that it believes that the private sector is the engine of growth and it has to respect the institutions that represent the private sector, despite differences it may have with holders of the office. It is the same as having respect for the Presidency in spite of who holds the office.
The Office of the President's actions were deliberate when it issued invitations in December and more recently two weeks ago to the Chambers of Commerce across the country and the Guyana Manufacturers' Association (GMA) to meetings with the President and left out the PSC which led the process for the 1999 historical Presidential Business Summit. That was a calculated act designed to send a message to the leadership of the PSC - fall in line or else.
This government is not running a cake shop. It is toying with an economy. For the private sector to play its role, the government has to be the facilitator. It cannot facilitate by playing games and rewarding those it favours as good comrades and punishing those it considers out of line.
But, the Office of the President is not the only office to be held responsible for the sidelining of the PSC. The private sector also has to share the blame, especially the GMA and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, two founding members of the PSC.
Why did the leadership of these organizations not insist that they will not be a part of a meeting with the President when it was realized that the PSC was again left out in the cold?
Ramesh Dookhoo, president of the GMA, is also vice-chairman of the PSC and would be very much aware that the PSC was not invited. His constituents are no longer just GMA members but also now extend to the entire private sector by virtue of holding the second in command position in that body. With authority comes responsibility and Dookhoo has failed in those responsibilities. The right thing for him to have done would have been to have declined the Office of the President's invitation until such a time as the entire private sector was invited.
Playing the Office of the President game may yield some short-term benefits but in the long-haul, the private sector and the GMA would be worse off because a government which discriminates against one body will have no compulsion at some other time to discriminate against another.
The formation of the PSC was to allow for a unified voice to speak for the private sector on issues. There were two previous rifts in unity and the private sector has again been tested and tried and has been found wanting in this area.
The fact that two immediate past presidents of the Georgetown Chamber, Edward Boyer and Brian James, are "very good friends" with the President does not absolve these individuals from their responsibility to the Chamber and the wider private sector either.
The Chamber is one of the oldest members of the PSC and a founding member at that and while personal relationships are good to maintain, the Chamber ought to recognize that it is part of an umbrella body and should not tolerate such actions which will only seek to divide and weaken.
The situation would not have gotten to the stage where it has had the GMA and the GCCI acted as responsible members of the PSC.
Damage control at this stage may save the relationship with the Office of the President and the PSC but it will not remove from the minds of onlookers what a weak private sector Guyana has and what a manipulative government we are dealing with.