THERE is a particular kind of political maturity on display when a government, mid-initiative, pauses to sit down with the very industry that initiative might affect.
That is precisely what happened on Friday when Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation Deodat Indar met with the Private Sector Commission and a broad cross-section of Guyana’s bottled water industry to address concerns head-on, rather than let them fester into public confrontation.
This was not a closed-door affair with a single favoured company. Captain Gerald Gouveia Jr. and Kathy Smith represented the PSC’s top leadership, while the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, and major players like Banks DIH, Demerara Distillers Limited, and Aquafina all had a seat at the table. Parliamentary Secretary Thandi McAllister’s presence signalled that this was treated as a matter of real institutional weight, not a token gesture.
What makes this engagement genuinely commendable is the substance of what the Minister communicated. Faced with understandable anxiety from an established private industry about a new government initiative touching their space, Indar did not deflect or offer vague reassurances.
He said plainly that the government is not producing water to compete with the private sector. In an environment where State involvement in any commercial space can quickly generate suspicion of encroachment or unfair advantage, that kind of directness deserves recognition rather than dismissal.
This is how a maturing economy is supposed to function. Guyana is in the midst of extraordinary growth, and rapid growth inevitably creates friction between public initiatives and private enterprise.
The instinct in many governments, when facing that friction, is to plough ahead and let the private sector adjust as best it can. The alternative instinct, on display here, is to consult first, listen to specific concerns, and clarify intent before speculation curdles into distrust. The second approach costs a government more time. It pays dividends in trust.
It is also worth noting who was in the room. The inclusion of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce alongside GMSA and the PSC’s senior leadership suggests a government attentive to breadth of representation, not just the loudest or largest voices in an industry. That is a small detail, but small details are often where good governance is actually practised, as opposed to merely promised.
None of this means every question stakeholders raised has been fully answered, or that scepticism should evaporate overnight. Trust between government and private industry is built cumulatively, meeting by meeting, commitment by commitment kept. But as a starting point, this engagement reflects exactly the posture Guyanese businesses should want from their government: Accessible, willing to explain itself, and genuinely interested in partnership rather than unilateral action.
If the PPP/C Government continues in this vein, consulting early, communicating clearly, and treating the private sector as a partner in national growth rather than an obstacle to it, Guyana’s economic expansion stands a far better chance of being broad-based, resilient, and free of the avoidable conflicts that derail so many resource-rich nations. This week’s meeting is a small case study in doing it right.
