A face-to-face exchange between President David Granger and Guyana Metal Recyclers Association (GMRA) Secretary Michael Benjamin during a demonstration by the Association outside the Ministry of the Presidency on Tuesday may pave the way for fast-tracking the reopening of the metal export trade, closed by the government since July last year.
The GMRA and the Ministry of Business have been engaged in a vigorous discourse over the reopening of the trade and last Tuesday’s demonstration outside the Ministry of the Presidency was triggered by a letter sent to the association by Business Minister Dominic Gaskin providing a tentative date of November this year for the re-opening of the trade.
Benjamin had told Stabroek Business upon receipt of the letter from Gaskin that the GMRA would have been pushing for the immediate reopening of the trade and the convening of Cabinet on Tuesday had been identified as an opportune time for staging a demonstration outside the Ministry of the Presidency. He said President Granger engaged him during the demonstration and in response to an enquiry from the President as to what it would take to satisfy the concerns of the sector, “I told the President that we were seeking a re-opening of the trade well before the tentative November time line communicated to the Association in Gaskin’s letter.”
Benjamin told Stabroek Business that while the President did not commit to anything, he had “a good feeling” about the exchange. “I understood the President to say that that he would be engaging Minister Gaskin [who was out of the country during the demonstration] with a view to working towards the opening of the trade at the earliest possible time. I understood him to say as well that he will be in touch with the association by Monday,” Benjamin told this newspaper.
While there have been meetings between the GMRA and the Ministry of Business on the issue of the recommencement of the trade, Benjamin had earlier told this newspaper that he had become frustrated over the “lack of progress” towards a resolution of the issues associated with the ending of the closure of the trade. On Wednesday, Benjamin said that the GMRA is advocating the creation of new legislation and regulations to govern the trade going forward.
“One of the things that the President recognized and I wish to say so is that the sector comprises legitimate business people and he said that he was disturbed over the fact that as legitimate businessmen we are out of work. Oddly enough, that is the very point which I have been making all along,” Benjamin said, adding that it was that reality that had driven the members of the association to resort to a public protest.
Meanwhile, Benjamin said the association understands that if it wants to retain its image as a legitimate umbrella organization it had a responsibility to set its face against metal theft. “We gave that commitment under the previous administration but we can only do so much. We cannot prosecute. We can try to separate ourselves from the illegal practices but at the end of the day the police have to do their work. I am saying here again that the association is prepared to continue to work with the authorities to help deal with the problem,” Benjamin said.
