Stop giving away the store

Nov 25, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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(Kaieteur News) – The President was in Bartica this weekend pleading with the aviation sector to lower domestic fares. He was not demanding this as a shareholder, but begging as the head of government.

The fact that he had to beg shows the limits of a system where government gives away vast concessions but earns no leverage in return. And this has created a private sector that takes benefits but feels no duty to pass them on.

Each year, hundreds of billions of dollars in tax waivers, duty concessions, land deals, and other incentives flow from the state to the private sector. These are real public resources with real monetary value. But they vanish into private hands without any structured return to citizens who ultimately fund them. And the public is left wondering why prices keep rising even as businesses accumulate benefits.

Since the pandemic, the government even allowed importers to pay duties on the freight component of their goods using pre-pandemic rates. This was intended to cushion costs for struggling consumers. But consumers never saw the full relief. And citizens bore the full weight of escalating living expenses.

In every major investment agreement, including those involving multinational corporations, the state grants generous concessions. These concessions it is said reduce the cost of capital, the cost of equipment, and the cost of doing business. But taxpayers, who underwrite these savings, get no equity stake despite being co-investors through forgone revenue. And in the end, the public pays high costs for services built partly on public support.

It is time to face a basic economic truth. A concession is not a gift, but a form of capital injection. When the state reduces taxes for a company, it is effectively investing public resources into that company. And like any investor, the state should receive shares for its investment. This is the logic that the United States government applied under Donald Trump when it demanded equity from certain firms seeking assistance. The principle is simple and sound.

If public money reduces your costs, the public becomes your partner. And partnerships come with ownership rights and decision-making power. Guyana should adopt the same model. For every tax break, there should be an equivalent valuation of the benefit given.

And that valuation should be translated directly into equity in the business receiving it. This turns concessions into assets, not giveaways. Such a system would radically change the relationship between government and the private sector. No longer would officials have to beg for price reductions or fair practices.

As shareholders, they could demand accountability, influence business conduct, and insist that benefits pass to consumers. And companies would finally have to justify the public investment they receive.

This approach would also strengthen fiscal discipline. It would force the state to quantify the real cost of concessions before granting them. And it would force investors to consider whether they genuinely need concessions or simply want them because they are free. When concessions have a price, they will be used more wisely.

Moreover, this model creates long-term wealth for the nation. Equity generates dividends, capital gains, and strategic influence. Instead of draining public coffers, concessions would build public assets. And future generations would inherit a portfolio of national investments, not a history of lost revenue. Critics will say that the private sector will resist. They will claim that this will discourage investment.

But real investors understand partnership and shared risk. And Guyana’s booming economy ensures that serious investors will still come, especially when rules are clear and applied evenly. The current system rewards extraction, not cooperation. It encourages businesses to take concessions and disappear with the benefits. By requiring equity, we create a culture where businesses and taxpayers rise together. And where every gain is shared.  This is also how we break the cycle of superficial corporate responsibility. Today, companies give handouts for public relations while keeping the real profits private. With equity, their success becomes public success. And their growth fuels national development.

If we adopt this model, the President will never again have to plead with the aviation sector to lower fares. He can walk into a boardroom as a co-owner and insist on the outcome that benefits the people who paid for the sector’s growth. This is not radical. It is rational, fair, and long overdue. The era of begging must end. And the era of ownership must begin. Let us stop giving away taxpayer resources for nothing. And let us start converting every concession into public equity, one investment at a time.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• aviation sector, Bartica, domestic fares, Peeping Tom

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