Dear Editor,
There has been a stream of negativity against the Private Sector in the print media recently. While the Private Sector is quite capable of addressing these issues, I feel saddened to see the poor quality of the local discourse and the stereotyping of the owners of large businesses as greedy and selfish. These qualities may be more suited to Guyana’s political class. It has been my experience that while the politicians are making a mess of governing the nation, it is the Private Sector that stands resolute, focused and remains the engine of growth of our society. It is within the Private Sector that one can find the testosterone and the brains, the empathy and the love that keeps this nation from imploding. And yes, profit is necessary to any functioning business entity. No farmer plants rice because the world needs to eat – he plants rice because he needs to eat. Businesses must generate profits, otherwise there will be no economic growth. So let us back off from trying to treat the word profit as if it is a profanity.
My own recent experience with charity organisations in this nation testifies that I could find no woman or man from within the Government or NGO communities that would offer support to a homeless single father. That support came from the Private Sector and it came with grace and privacy befitting of the act of charity. The writers attempting to defame the Private Sector are doing so on the basis that they do not see the private sector engaged in acts of charity. Acts of charity, by their very nature, are required to be private. Semitic religions require that the left hand must not be familiar with what the right hand is doing when it comes to charity. Let it be known that the private sector of Guyana supports churches, mosques, temples, orphanages, construction of health facilities, sponsorship of children, renovation of homes and many other acts of charity. The Private Sector together and remittances from overseas families are responsible for food on the table of many poor families in Guyana today – they are filling the policy gap of non-existent social security in Guyana.
The fact of the matter is that all cross-sections of Guyanese society are rising to the challenge of supporting the vulnerable within our society during this Covid-19 pandemic. Cooperation comes naturally to the Guyanese people. The main challenge that we have in this country is not one of poor relations among our peoples. Our main challenge is a political one where the resources of the country are viewed as a prize to be
possessed by corrupt politicians. While, as a nation, we are struggling to solve this hard global problem of corruption in politics, I am grateful for the strength of the local private sector and I am personally grateful for all the support that I have received on behalf of the people who I represent when the Government itself failed them because of its incapacity to support the human development of its citizens.
Yours faithfully,
Sandra Khan
