Businessman Terrence Campbell, who left the newly-founded political party A New and United Guyana (ANUG) before its public launch, says he has started to take steps to divest himself of a number of businesses he owns in preparation for a life of public service.
“In fact, I have already taken steps to do so,” he told Stabroek News.
Asked at the launch of the Liberty and Justice Party at Georgetown Club last Saturday if he was moving forward politically, having moved on from ANUG, Campbell said, “For me I will be in public service going forward. I am almost 55 years, so it is time for a career change to public service.”
He added, “I am considering options of exiting certain businesses that would allow me to do so, unfettered.”
Campbell is the managing director of CAMEX Limited, which is the franchise holder of several United States-based headquartered fast-food and courier services operating locally.
On January 7th, he withdrew from ANUG and the civic group Reform, Inform, Sustain, Educate (RISE) citing polarisation over the December 21st no confidence vote against the government and attacks “by my own people.”
He previously explained on Facebook that then government member Charrandass Persaud’s vote for the no-confidence motion had polarised Guyana, leading him to realise that now is not the time for the kind of healing, centrist politics he envisaged.
In the present political atmosphere, he told this newspaper, it all depends on the timing and the time it takes to divest those business interest that might be subject to attacks.
“Mind you, I don’t believe that any business people in Guyana should be subjected to boycotts. Any boycott or attacks on businesses should be last resort, such as for human rights abuses like apartheid or something like that,” he explained.
Business people and professionals, Campbell said, should be free to join any party of their choice without fearing for their businesses or the practice of their profession.
Asked why he feels he should make a contribution to the political landscape, he said, “I don’t want to leave Guyana the way I found it. We have been a divided country for 50 plus years.”
While he said that Guyana was divided for over 50 years, he noted that one of his colleagues has told him that Guyana has been divided since the 1880 over differences in income for slaves, ex slaves and indentured labourers. “I refuse to leave Guyana in the way it I found it. Whatever efforts I can make to make a different Guyana, that is what I am going to do for the rest of my years. If that means that I have to exit some of the businesses that I currently own, then I will. In fact, I have already taken steps to do so,” he declared.
Campbell has said that as part of his contribution to seeing Guyana evolving into a democracy, he financially supported the A Partnership for National Unity-Alliance For Change coalition. Appointed to chair the Guyana National Printers Limited board, he said, he turned the company from losses to profit.
His entry into politics, he said, was purely to deny the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) a majority in the Parliament and to push for constitutional reform. At this time, he does not think that the coalition stands a chance against the PPP/C.
For a new ‘independent’ party to be successful in this scenario, he said, he believes it would need to compete under an umbrella with groups that broadly share its philosophical approach since time is short and resources are limited.
