Political crisis afflicting national response to COVID-19 pandemic – re-elected GCCI President

…absence of robust public management will lead to economic malaise

Guyana’s transition from a net importer of petroleum to a producer has changed the equation in terms of how the nation benefits, moving from one that benefits from the collapse of international oil prices to one which is adversely affected and as such requires robust public management of the economy in order to avoid the malaise of inherent economic problems from the collapse in prices.

This was the warning sounded by re-elected President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, who noted that the economic situation locally has since been compounded by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which, “in addition to posing an economic problem is a major health risk”.
He delivered the address during a virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) held by the GCCI — in keeping with the preventative COVID-19 measure of social distancing.
The GCCI President, in his report on the business support organisation, noted that “this public health crisis –unprecedented in its nature in independent Guyana – has coincided with a crisis in the political arena that has afflicted the quality and extent of our national response to the pandemic”.
Addressing the AGM, Deygoo-Boyer said the March 2 General and Regional Elections have been delayed through subterfuge “by actors in the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)”.
Delivering his assessment of the domestic political situation, the GCCI President said the now almost two months of delays in the declaration of the results of the elections have “pushed the country’s populace to their wits’ ends of patience and should not be experienced by any country, let alone a state such as Guyana with a history marred by politically-related conflict and tension.”
Reiterating the GCCI’s desire to see meaningful pursuit of constitutional reform, he reminded of its commitment to standing on the side of the rule of law and democracy in order to ensure that the country did not slip “into dark days of being a pariah State”.
Deygoo-Boyer was re-elected to head the GCCI for another term when the body met for its AGM this past week to elect its Executive Council.
Those members include the re-elected President Deygoo-Boyer, Senior Vice President Timothy Tucker, Junior Vice President Anjie Lambert, Treasurer Kester Hutson, and Secretary Shaleeza Shaw.

Remains steadfast
GCCI, in a subsequent statement, said it remained steadfast in its lobbying and advocacy work, especially under the threat of COVID-19 “which has seen the caretaker Government implement stay-at-home orders to preserve the lives of Guyanese citizens”.
It noted, however, that while the GCCI believed that such an order should remain in effect, “we call for metrics to be used and a plan to be put in place to allow non-essential businesses to understand when they will be allowed to reopen and whether they will reopen understandably with conditions that encapsulate hours of operations, sanitising, screening measures, and social distancing practices.”
According to the GCCI, this type of planning and decision making allows businesses to reduce the anxiety of their workers and manage the expectations of customers so that social distancing can be effective.
Re-elected President Deygoo-Boyer in his report had also noted a largely successful 2019 for the Chamber, and noted that its membership increased by 120 businesses.
This was in addition to GCCI maintaining a positive surplus on its balance sheets.