The Private Sector Commission today said that it was disappointed at the government’s response to its concerns and noted that none of the key issues raised were addressed.
A statement from the Private Sector Commission follows:
The Private Sector Commission is both surprised and disappointed that the Government of Guyana would choose to respond with vitriol to what was, not the view of the Private Sector Commission, but a cry for help from the beleaguered business community. The Government of Guyana which was elected to serve the people of Guyana, according to today’s media accounts, used such pejorative terms as “political stool pigeon” and “yields to its political handlers” to describe the statement of the views of a large cross-section of the business community.
The Private Sector Commission is a democratic organization which represents close to five thousand micro, small, medium and large businesses through their membership of the twenty four Sectoral Member Organisations which each have a seat on the governing Council of the Commission. These persons all have diverse political views which span the spectrum and the Private Sector Commission respects all of these views. The Government’s statement that it has “full respect for business” is made a travesty by the entire content and tone of its missive.
The Private Sector Commission wishes to assure the Government of Guyana that it is fully supportive of its policies when these accord with a climate in which the private sector, and indeed the people of Guyana, can prosper and expand, creating jobs and adding to the national patrimony for true development. The right and proper path for the Government to follow if it is perturbed by the expressed views of the business community is to engage the Commission in constructive dialogue aimed at resolving the highlighted problems, especially in view of the healthy relationship which the Commission and the Government have enjoyed since its assumption of office.
The Private Sector Commission is also alarmed at the fact that the entire missive, purportedly emanating from the Government of Guyana, addresses none of the points raised in the Commission’s statement and does not attempt to answer the perception of the business community that the economy is on the decline; a perception that should be easily refuted by the Government were it not evident by the economic data which the Government itself disseminates.
