On this day 20 years ago, Stabroek News debuted the weekly ‘Business Page’ column, written by Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram which has kept a constant focus on the state of the economy and the general business climate.
“It arose out of conversations I had with the founder and then Editor in Chief of the Stabroek News, Mr David de Caires, who was very interested in the business architecture and environment,” said Ram.
Now an attorney as well, Ram sat down to an interview with Stabroek News to reflect on the two decades of the column, which can be found on page 12 of the Sunday edition of the paper.
According to Ram, while the 20 years have not been easy given the private and public sectors’ apparent reluctance to disseminate information on their operations, he has learnt much while being given a first-hand lesson in discipline. The latter he attributed to when he has to meet pressing deadlines. “I readily agreed to write the article without realising that it is not and it would not have been such an easy job after all. It has been very challenging… But I saw business pages providing that need to the public that edifies them on issues and kept at it,” he said.
“I have learnt a lot …it’s a high quality page the readership is not as widespread as I might have hoped, but it is a very discerning and informed readership. The discipline of meeting a deadline by Friday, making sure it is in, that itself is an achievement,” he added with a smile.
Asked what he would term the column’s most memorable and major success he said he would leave that for his readers.
However, he highlighted the yearly government budget review and the ‘On the Line’ feature, where annual reports and financial statements of popular companies are taken and a rigorous “under the microscope” analysis is done. It is the critique in articles like these, where corporate and governance practices are put under the radar, that Ram feels has contributed to the lifting of standards of organisations and even government firms. “While we know that a lot has happened in terms of raising accounting standards …at least companies know that someone is watching beyond just the regulator” he said.
Questioned as to the influence the ‘Business Page’ has had on policy making, Ram opined that although small the column demonstrates that it has had some influence. However, he indicated that he wished the percentage was higher. Using his debut column which focused on the banking sector needing to do more and more regulatory practices needed, he noted that since then much has been done.
“We mentioned the new Companies Act, which was passed but had not been taken into effect and we have that now. We mentioned the Bank of Guyana, the regulator and we had a new Financial Institutions Act…”
While many see the columnist as a harsh critic of the government, evidenced in his pieces, he was quick to explain that what he does is never done to personally attack any one organisation or specific government. “I don’t criticise the government. I criticise policies and actions of the government that’s all it is about. Before the PPP came to power I wasn’t very popular with the PNC administration either,” he stated.
He said that for his very vocal stance on failing policies and decisions made by this administration he has been victimised by government.
“The government and its various agencies have chosen to be vindictive,” he added. “I saw Business Page as a conversation with the readers… unfortunately you get two kinds of feedback from the public, the hagiographical saying how much they look forward… and then you get the cuss down type that has become a feature of the conversational landscape of Guyana.”
It is for this reason he opined that persons are afraid to write and speak out when they experience, witness or have information pertaining to issues of corruption and marginalisation. Ram said he was never one to be afraid and after 20 years and the many “cussings” he himself has gotten, he now has “crocodilian skin”.
He said government supporters would often tell him, “you write critically when the government does something wrong but you don’t give praise accordingly when it does something good.” To this he said he wants his readers to know that the purpose of his column is to point out inefficiencies and ways and recommendations for correcting them.
He said that for the mistakes that government has made—pointing to the cash-strapped NIS, the loan given to the now defunct Clico—his writing cannot change as he has a duty to edify his fellow Guyanese. He said from these two entities among others he has drawn new passion and is thus motivated to work.
“If you make mega mistakes like this government has made with the National Insurance Scheme and Clico, how it has lied about value added tax, my loyalty, if it can be so called, is to the truth and to the average Guyanese. It would not be proper for me to modify my writing… and so I will keep writing,” he said.
While thanking the Sunday Stabroek for affording him the opportunity to share his ideas and views with the wider Guyanese community, Ram has promised to continue until “the Editor in Chief says thank you Mr Ram this is it.”
