Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Chairman Bishop Juan Edghill yesterday called on the private sector to use its financial support of political parties to influence positive social change in the country.
He made the call while briefing the media at a break in the programme of a one-day ERC/private sector confab at the Princess Hotel, Providence. The event was meant to address harmonious relations between ethnic groups and the role the private sector could play.
According to Bishop Edghill, the private sector cannot continue to hide behind its “grillwork” and expect others to champion its cause.
“If there is ethnic conflict in Guyana, the private sector suffers greatly so the private sector must be able to convert its influence not only in terms of making donations or funding political campaigns but… to convert that influence in impacting positive social change in bringing about betterment in this country.”
He noted that it was businesses that pay for the ads and the big meetings so they must be able to bring about that change through “negotiation and discussion”.
The chairman’s words followed presentations from ERC commissioner John Willems and Clive Williams of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, who both lamented the divisive nature of Guyanese politics.
Willems, in his remarks, decried the reality that politicians locally did not vote their conscience but instead toed the party line.
“To castrate the parliamentarians of the right to vote his or her conscience is something the private sector should examine. Is it right or wrong? Then go to the party of your choice and tell it what you want and maybe, just maybe in the manifesto of the next elections the points will be favourably addressed by the servants of the people,” Willems stated.
According to him, many individuals in business representative bodies use their positions to further their own interests, something the politicians play on which leads to a reversal in roles with the people serving the politicians instead.
Meanwhile, Williams said the divisive nature of Guyana’s politics has been one of the major obstacles to national development. He observed that the dominance of Guyana’s socioeconomic activities by the two major political parties has often led to little or no compromise because of the Westminster political system.
“It is therefore quite evident that for the country to realise its full potential … practical mechanisms will have to be arrived… that are informed by intelligent and objective issues on the basis of meaningful consultations at the widest level,” he said.
Speaking after Willems and Williams, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who declared the conference open, noted that the event had been organised to examine ethnic distribution across the private sector but then he went on to challenge the view that politicians were to blame for the divisiveness in Guyana.
“I want to challenge it because it is an excuse people make to take themselves off the books. Politicians are never far from the people. If politicians are too far from the people they become like John the Baptist crying in the wilderness so don’t let us excuse ourselves that the state of Guyana… is a reflection of politicians and political processes,” Hinds declared.
However, he acknowledged that politicians are leaders and maybe they could do more to convince the people of why they should pursue certain paths. Hinds concluded by calling on members of the private sector to produce a breakdown of the ethnicity of their employees, which he said would be a first step to addressing the issue.
“If we don’t come out of here with the numbers of ethnic distribution of employees in all our situations then we really have not taken the first step and whatever it is so be it. But then let us commit ourselves that slowly… we will change those ratios,” the PM said.
The participants also heard presentations from other government representatives, AFC and TUF on the vision for the private sector under their stewardships.
These were followed by group discussions on human resource management, sole proprietor operations, diversity in management and the strategic involvement of the private sector in governance for national change.
