Private sector will not endorse any presidential candidate
– Chairman Dookhoo
THE Private Sector Commission (PSC) has said that, while it appreciates  the willingness of the presidential candidates to engage the business community and outline their future polices that will impact the membership, it will not be endorsing any of them. Nor will it be making public any of the internal discussions and analyses of the presentations by the politicians, the PSC Chairman, Mr. Ramesh Dookhoo said Wednesday.
He spoke after the last of the candidates, Mr. Donald Ramotar, representing the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) outlined his campaign strategy at a luncheon at the  Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown.
Dookhoo warned that the local business community will not support any form of non-electoral power initiatives.
“We believe in the concept of a strong and constructive opposition as a major issue for the balancing of democracy in our country,” he said.
According to him, the private sector’s needs include political and regime stability, a stable exchange rate, security and the absence of crime, clarity and fairness of laws and regulations, public service efficiency, investment protection, anti-monopoly practices, favourable attitude to foreign direct investment, the opening of an export promotion zone and better access to local financing.
He also advocated better labour relations, more availability of skilled and unskilled labour as well as technicians, cheaper telecommunication services and air transport, reliable power and water supplies and improved roads in the interior.
Dookhoo said the private sector is looking forward to an “exciting political season” and encouraged all Guyanese to participate in the electoral process but reject empty political promises.
The PSC Chairman said, though, that the organisation endorses the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) and supports the work of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
He said they recognise the ERC as a legitimate body and GECOM’s development of a political code of conduct and the existing one for the media is laudable.

Intense competition
Dookhoo, calling for political stability, said the private sector understands that to mean an environment in which there is intense competition on ideas and policies, but where the end result does not leave anyone feeling disenfranchised.
President of the GMSA, Mr. Clinton Williams, in his remarks, said the private sector has taken the first step towards ensuring that the political climate, this time around, is characterised by informed discussions and objective discourse.
He observed:“There has been, in the past, a disturbing tendency, during an election year, for increased rhetoric, insinuations, hollowness, vulgarity and insensitivity.”
Williams said the one-on-one discussion with the business community is an intervention influenced by the exchange of candid, rational and pertinent views, which would result in workable strategies to impact on social, political and, ultimately, rapid economic development of Guyana.
“What is sadly lacking is the evolution and adoption of an appropriate and pertinent political culture, which is wholly supportive of mutually agreed economic policy programmes,” he said.
Williams said, against this premise, the private sector and other social partners have seized the opportunity to analyse the soundness and appropriateness of the plans and programmes of the aspiring Heads of State.
He suggested a culture within which there is more intensity in the implementation of a continuous process of meaningful involvement and maximum participation of all stakeholders.
When he spoke at the forum, earlier, Ramotar had said that marrying the strengths of all the electoral systems for the benefit of the country is something that could be considered.
Fielding questions from the lunch guests, he indicated that his campaign will be on the basis of continuity, while, simultaneously, strategising through newer and bolder programmes that will optimise development in the country
“Our country is now poised to go to a qualitatively higher level of development. We will succeed if we work together, if we face the challenges together and we can walk on a new highway of peace, progress and prosperity in Guyana,” Ramotar declared.