Private sector wants face off between Presidential Candidates

May 22, 2011 News

…Ramotar before business leaders on Wednesday

The campaign fever continues to heat up with the last of the three announced Presidential Candidates, Donald Ramotar, of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), slated to make his pitch to the business community on Wednesday.
The forums have been coordinated by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), a powerful body of companies that includes the likes Banks DIH and Demerara Distillers.

PPP/C’s Donald Ramotar

Already, over the past four weeks, Khemraj Ramjattan, of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and Brigadier (rtd) David Granger of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) have appeared before business leaders.
Now, GMSA is looking to bring the three candidates together for discussion, with the private sector and other stakeholders present.
According to GMSA, Ramotar will round off the series of discourses, unveiling his plans for the further development of the private sector, during the luncheon meeting on Wednesday at the Pegasus Hotel.
Like the other forums, Ramotar, a Russian-educated economist, is expected to also field questions from the business community.
“GMSA is indeed very heartened by the response of the business community, the major political parties and other stakeholders who have all embraced the series and participated actively. Each previous session which featured the presidential candidates of the AFC and PNC respectively, was attended by a wide cross section of businessmen and women who seized the opportunity to ask about the respective party’s vision regarding the creation of enabling mechanisms to enhance private sector development in Guyana.”
GMSA is now expecting that the next encounter, this time with Ramotar, could see a more intriguing interaction.
GMSA’s President, Clinton Williams, noted that this series of business luncheons is the first time that the private sector has been afforded the opportunity to engage so closely with any presidential candidate prior to an election.
Williams is hopeful that following the culmination of this three-part series, all three major presidential candidates would be willing to sit in a round-table discussion with members of the private sector and other stakeholders as the audience.
“The business sector in Guyana does indeed see itself as the engine of economic growth and also as social partners in the development of Guyana. The entire private sector, the umbrella bodies and the membership, believe that the political parties’ engagements with them will subscribe to an atmosphere where there are candid, rational and pertinent exchanges of ideas during the upcoming general elections.”