Dear Editor,
The private sector as represented by the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association needs to decide whether its wants to be an opposition party or an appendage of the PPP/C or a development partner.
On Friday, the Private Sector Commission objected to the government strengthening its oversight when the knowledge of a company remitting US$100M to its foreign accounts, which should have gone through the central bank was discovered.
Why shouldn’t the laws of Guyana be adhered to? Why should white collar crime be exempted from punishment when an ordinary citizen gets 3 to 5 years for minor crimes.
Sadly, the private sector has said nothing about GuySuCo. They have not called a single symposium on GuySuCo or sugar. They have offered no solutions to the biggest economic issue facing Guyana.
They have hidden behind the political skirts of the previous government to make it purely a political issue and not a business issue that has political implications. But I ask the Guyanese private sector this question:
If their company had a $77 billion debt which it could not pay, needed an additional $45 billion to modernise equipment and infrastructure to allow the production of 300,000 tons of sugar and after that infusion the business would still need $5 billion in subsidies from the government for another 5 to 10 years, what would they do?
A responsible private sector, the so-called engine of growth, that includes a group of individuals who monopolise most civil society positions on boards and organizations in our society, would have addressed GuySuCo.
Quite conveniently, this same private sector has said nothing about the 15,000 ounces of gold being smuggled out of Guyana on a weekly basis, or the significant money laundering that occurs on a daily basis, or the 40% underground economy that is stifling our country while large unused buildings go unoccupied in the capital.
Some of this capital is finding itself in the oil and gas industry as they have the capital and infrastructure to service ExxonMobil.
It is time for the private sector with their privileged access to capital and government patrimony to be a positive force in our society.
Yours faithfully,
Eric Phillips
