The private sector should not taking pushing around

Nov 29, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The richest segment of Guyana has been treated very poorly. The private sector, which represents the powerful propertied class in Guyana, has been over the past four years treated like a foot stool.
The PPP totally took the private sector for granted in the past. The PPP could have afforded to do so, because it had common interests with the propertied class which made a great deal of money under the PPP, despite being subservient to the government.
The private sector has not had the best relations with the new government or the parties that constitute the governing coalition. The private sector had in the past been forced to be pleading and begging for APNU and the AFC to pass anti-money laundering legislation so that Guyana would not be blacklisted. The AFC and APNU did not bend to their pleas. They held out and did not approve the legislation that the PPP was willing to pass.
The Private Sector Commission is once again pleading. Its members want certain things done with the economy; they are concerned with legislation that would increase the powers of the Guyana Revenue Authority to have access to information on bank accounts; and they remain concerned with the anti-money laundering legislation. The private sector had called for a stimulus package in the Budget, but whatever was approved is not doing much stimulation.
The private sector is also concerned by the downturn in business activity. Its worst fears have been confirmed about the economy. The economy is in serious problems and the private sector is more interested in fixing these problems rather than debating when the decline started. The private sector knows when it started. It has said as much.
Guyana is heading into a recession unless there is an about-turn in terms of how the economy is managed. There are problems between the private sector and the government, with the private sector running around begging to be taken seriously.
The private sector has to wake up and smell the coffee. Unless it takes itself seriously, nobody is going to do so.
The private sector has always had muscle. But for too long it has been afraid to use that muscle to get what it wants. Instead it prefers to placate and negotiate with governments.
It surely has not done a good job with the present government, seeing that it is still making representation on a Bill that would hand power to the Guyana Revenue Authority to have access to information about a person’s bank account.
Such information should be protected by privacy laws and considerations. Tax authorities should never be allowed carte blanche access to the information about the bank balances of individuals. In this age of electronic banking, such information if leaked into the wrong hands can end up causing persons to lose everything.
The only way that the Guyana Revenue Authority should have such access is if it satisfies the Court that there is an investigation ongoing and such information is vital to its case. Such information should never be released on the basis of determining where to conduct investigations.
You would have thought that the private sector would not have had to make any great representation for its views to be taken seriously on this issue. Unfortunately, it has once again been forced to beseech the government to listen to its pleas. Where is the muscle of the private sector?
There are some who will feel that the private sector can be taken for granted; that it can be used as a foot stool. There are, however, indications that while the private sector will not take any radical or even dramatic courses of action in pursuance of what it wants, it will also not easily bend over and allow the government to do as it pleases.
The private sector will respond by closing ranks and going into hibernation. The private sector is strong enough to survive five years of negative growth. The government may not get another term if that happens.
The government therefore should begin to take the private sector seriously. Otherwise things may end up being bleak for the economy for the next five years.

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The private sector should not taking pushing around

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