Wrap: Dookhoo’s Boo Boo
Let’s deal with PSC executive member Ramesh Dookhoo’s comments on why he and the rest of the private sector apparently “hate elections”.
“The private sector hate elections! We hate elections! We do no business before elections and we do no business after elections. Having elections before the five years is up is a huge disincentive to the private sector,” he told journalists this morning, getting rather vocal.
First off elections in Guyana and indeed in many developing countries are a messy business and, yes, they mess with business. But to be so visceral and dismissive of what is the fundamental part of any democracy suggests -even if said in haste and anger – that somehow this historically established system of choosing persons to govern us is a nuisance which only gets in the way of Guyana’s visionary entrepreneurs creating tons of jobs and growing the economy…aka making money for themselves.
In fact nothing could be further from the truth: in the long run those hateful elections if held fairly and based on serious issues, should, we repeat should, bring to a country such benefits as improved governance in the form of accountability, transparency and better planning. This in turn should, we repeat again, should deliver improved health and education services for those workers Mr Dookhoo wants to employ and make money from.
So in that mythical Guyana where public officials are held accountable to the electorate, he might actually win that contract that a friend of a minister once won; the customs officer might not shake his company down over some shipment; that employee who was sick might come back to work earlier; and the one who stole from him might receive the justice he deserves and thus deter others.
What has really held back Guyana since independence has not been elections per se but the lack of fair ones. So we find the comments by Mr Dookhoo shortsighted although clearly he is as frustrated as everyone by the delay that we pray will come to an end shortly. And then once it’s all over, his private sector can get back to creating all those jobs…
