By Kurt Campbell
[www.inewsguyana.com] – “Several things are holding us back as a nation because of political rambling and one day political rambling will ruin us all.”
This is according to Former Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Dookhoo, who while speaking on behalf of the PSC expressed the belief that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) should be established in its current form.
Dookhoo said this will lend in a significant way to the further democratization Guyana. The PSC’s position on the establishment of the PPC concurs with that of the Alliance for Change (AFC).
However, Government says while it is committed to the establishment of the body it must have a ‘no objection’ input in the issuance of contracts and have since moved to the National Assembly to amend the current Act in this regard.
The AFC has since said that given government’s position on the PPC, it will not support the passage of the critical Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill which was defeated in the National Assembly recently; resulting in Guyana being blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
“We can’t wait to dot our Is and cross our Ts in relation to establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, the law is on out books, if you want to change it change it later then do that but establish it now and I would say the same to opposition, you want to change the Anti-Money Laundering Bill then do that later, you have the chance to do it,” Dookhoo said.
The Former PSC Chairman said the Commission would like to talk to all politicians to ensure that they see the future through the eyes of the private sector.
“We are the ones that generate and share the wealth; we are responsible for the growth of the economy; we contributed 25 billion in taxes last year to economy and as such our interest must be respected,” he said.
Dookhoo explained that politicians must do a better job at evaluating the seriousness of issues, recognizing national threats and work together to ward it off.
He said the current political climate has contributed to the lack of availability of capital inflows for projects in Guyana, companies are receiving massive request for information to remit small sums of money abroad and the situation has created capital flights for Guyana and shortage of foreign exchange.
“Authorities may not want to say this is factual but we run business we are on the ground and we hear what’s happening and that is what our members are saying to us. Some may say that the Procurement Commission is national priority while others will say that the Anti-Money Laundering Bill is, but there are so many things that are holding us back from the further democratization of the nation.”
