President Irfaan Ali on Thursday slammed banks here as being hopeless in customer care and called on them to fix the “unnecessary burden on people”.
Addressing the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) Christmas dinner at Duke Lodge, the President said: “The bankers are innovating more and more ways to make transitions to the bank hard…it is absolute nonsense, it is not in any international requirement for a man to withdraw $25,000 and fill up a whole load of forms…so how are we even going to get to e-transaction.”
According to a release from the Office of the President, Ali said that it is imperative that the existing problems are fixed since, institutionally, the systems do not support the technology.
“The banks are hopeless in customer-care and customer-handling, I’ve said it publicly, they have to fix it, unnecessary burden on customers and consumers. People are at the centre of everything we do—people are unhappy with the system”, he stated.
The release said that he told the PSC members that they need to get serious about playing their part in the development of the country.
The President spoke of the need to create the “best healthcare, education and infrastructure” and ultimately building stronger Guyanese families.
“We also have to implement the softer strategies, and they are as critical as strategies for profit-making—we cannot build a society in which the family has no place, those programmes are the things that would create a transformative mindset that is greater than the physical road”, he said.
The President stated that the business community needs to start thinking bigger and bolder.
“We are not dealing anymore in an environment with small businesses and medium-sized businesses alone, and we have the most sophisticated investors that are on the international market”, he said.
He added that his Government will create the pathway, but it’s up to the business communities to make the investments. He pointed to the Local Content Bill, which he said is set for debate at the next sitting of the National Assembly on December 29. He said that it is transformational and will aid local business development.
The President contended that among the most important attributes of the country are its political and social stability and its predictability when it comes to policy direction. That policy direction, he said, has resulted in numerous big investors and even countries coming on board.
Throughout the country, he said that the infrastructure will be upgraded. He said that roads will also be developed and this includes the Linden to Mabura Hill road link.
“As I speak to you, the bids are completed, and the recommendation for the Linden to Mabura Hill road is at CDB (Caribbean Development Bank), and our intention is to have it awarded before the end of the year.”
He also said that the designs for the bridges along the road have been completed to international standards and that the Government will be financing them.
Ali said that those who are not willing to push forward now will not have a chance to benefit from the opportunities.
“We do not have the luxury of time anymore. If there is a culture of 8-4:30, it cannot work anymore because of the scale of what we’re doing—the scale of what we’re involved in.”
The President said that due to the magnitude of the investment potential coming to Guyana, the future will be very progressive and that the Government will continue to innovate.
“If we don’t have the capacity, we have to build the capacity, we have to invest in the capacity, and it will come, do not believe that it will not come, once we make the right shifts and the right movements that capacity will come”, he said.
He pointed out to the PSC that ExxonMobil’s services have migrated from Trinidad to Guyana and that it proves the country’s ever-developing capacity and potential.
