By Jacquie Hamer
Thumbing through the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (GCCI) 2009 Annual Report recently I was surprised to learn that the organisation is now more than 120 years old and that its recently elected President, Komal Ramnauth, is the 46th person to have served in that position. The article in the report titled “GCCI Celebrated 120 Years Of Service To The Guyana Business Community” provided an excellent assessment of the work of the chamber over those years including, particularly, its exchanges with government and with delegations from abroad on matters pertaining to the welfare of the urban business community. Additionally, the list of “Past and Present Presidents of the GCCI” includes the names of some true stalwarts of urban commerce in Guyana: like Richter, D’Aguiar, Jardim, Gajraj, et al. In sum, what the article does is to attest to the richness of Georgetown’s history as Guyana’s commercial capital as well as to the sustained contribution which the GCCI has made to sustaining that tradition.
What surprised me even more, however, is the fact that the GCCI’s ‘Membership List 2009’ totals 101 organisations, a number that seems small, given the fact, first, that the GCCI is more than 100 years old. Second that over that period, a surfeit of commercial enterprises have blossomed (some have since wilted) in our commercial capital. It raises the question as to the failure of the GCCI to recruit more members to its ranks or, perhaps, the disinclination of urban commercial houses to become members of the GCCI. I make this point with the utmost seriousness. It is, in my opinion, a matter of much concern that in an urban commercial centre where there is manifest evidence of a continual increase in the number of business houses, only two new members were admitted to the GCCI in 2009. Having said that – and here I have no wish to be offensive – it appears that there is no shortage of ‘free-riders’ – since, again according to the 2009 Annual Report – a group of business owners including “night club owners’ met with the chamber last year to discuss a number of issues, several of which pertained to their establishments and licences. These are weighty issues and it occurs to me that if night club owners want the GCCI to engage them on matters to do with licences, they ought, correctly, to become members of the GCCI. I can understand the GCCI wanting to reach out to as many business owners as possible but I do believe that the strength of the organisation lies in the numbers of its membership.
I say this for a very important reason. While I do not necessarily disagree with the view that government and the private sector should, as far as possible, seek to maintain an amicable relationship, I cannot be persuaded – given the nature of things in Guyana – that the private sector and the government will ever sing from the same hymn sheet despite manifest efforts to create fora – like the National Competitiveness Council – where they can work together.
There are simply too many issues – like tax reform, for example – over which government and the private sector will probably always be at odds. I prefer, therefore, that we have a Georgetown Chamber that is as strong as it can be and one way of ensuring that strength is by ensuring that as many businesses as possible become members of the GCCI.
Except I am thoroughly mistaken – and I concede that I might very well be – the GCCI is intended to be an umbrella private sector organization and if that it indeed the case one wonders about the listing of the Guyana Power and Light Company and the Guyana Oil Company as GCCI members. If, perhaps, I can live with GUYOIL being a member of GCCI I simply cannot fathom a state utility company, to wit, the Guyana Power and Light Company, being a member of the GCCI. Not that I hold any grudges against GPL but one can see situations arising in which the chamber could well be at odds with itself since it would surprise me if there are too many members of the chamber who have not, at one time or another, had reason to break a lance with the GPL. On the other hand there are those who might argue that given the woes which the GPL so often heaps on the business sector, its membership of the GCCI might at least allow more access to remedial pursuits in times of difficulty.
The GCCI’s “reviewed Code of Conduct” makes interesting reading particularly its “Principle 1” which has to do with “legislation and the government.” Under that “principle” the GCCI seeks to have its members be compliant in their obligations to the Guyana Revenue Authority, the National Insurance Scheme, the Department of Industrial Relations, Occupational Health and Safety, the Environmental Protection Agency, Industry Standards and the Trade Union Recognition Act. Here, of course, the rubber hits the road since there are probably few if any business entities anywhere in Guyana that are compliant in every respect alluded to in the chamber’s Code of Conduct; and whatever the official views to the contrary the fact of the matter is that the non-payment of employee NIS contributions particularly by private sector organisations has now become a matter of public disgrace which runs counter to the GCCI’s edict regarding the encouragement of “positive ethical behaviours.” The chamber, it seems to me, is guilty of not putting enough pressure of the local business community to meet their obligations to their members. I have read different pieces in this newspaper calling on the private sector, the government and even the President himself to do something about the NIS delinquents in the private sector. If anything is being done to ensure that businesses pay up their employees’ NIS contributions, it has certainly not been brought to public attention; moreover, it is my view that more, can be done, particularly by government but also by the private sector to change this situation; and never mind the argument about problems with the courts. Any half wit knows that defaulting business houses would storm the NIS head office with their payments, including the full extent of the retroactivity, if it were to be brought to their attention that the President frowns on their behaviour. Come on, Mr President, frown for all those unfortunates who face a royal runaround because their NIS contributions are not paid up.
Non-payment of employee NIS and GRA contributions is exploitation par excellence and the utterances in the Code of Conduct regarding compliance with regulations, economic and social empowerment, equity, fairness, transparency and consistency and corporate social responsibility have a hollow ring to them in circumstances where the chamber appears to be able to do very little to bring to an end a practice of protracted exploitation of workers by their employers. The GCCI simply has to understand that it cannot speak for a socially responsible private sector unless it can be seen to be taking a position against those heinous, cruel and exploitative practices. In the circumstances, the remaining laudable clauses in its Code of Conduct become no more than hot air.
I share entirely the view expressed by the immediate past President of the GCCI Chandradat Chintamani that all businesses should be registered under the GCCI as is the case in several other developed and developing countries including, I believe, Suriname. That, of course, would have its own implications since, were it to become mandatory that all businesses become members of the chamber, the question would immediately arise as to whether they would all, like good corporate citizens, be prepared to honour their obligations to the GRA and the NIS, ensure higher standards of safety and health, leave behind trading practices that exploit consumers and engage in fair trade and competition in accordance with the law.
Here again the question arises as to whether the kinds of corrupt, anti-consumer business practices that have become embedded in our commercial culture may not be threatened by a strong chamber, run by people of integrity and backed by a government that has a vested interest in working with the private sector to eradicate those ills.
