Guyana has had a failing history with the Government running corporations. Privately run enterprises are usually ran more efficiently and profitably. Privatizing the state corporation held under the first failed PNC effort was the best avenue to resuscitate those industries and the economy at large. Where the governments failed was by not linking the licensing of those enterprises to remedies for all Guyanese. They could have used effective taxing legislatures and collections and transfer those to the elderly and less privileged. Truly less privileged. They could have fairly dispensed govern held assets and use those proceeds to accomplish the same rather than transfer state owned properties and interests to their friends and families and pocket kickbacks to themselves. No doubt there are some operations that should be ran by the government because they are essentials to the public. One huge example is the Berbice Bridge. That should never be a private enterprise especially after considering how it was funded and how its revenue is allocated. Similarly is the electric and water companies. Outside of those truly essential utilities, Shuman should approach with caution any attempt to transfer private companies to public ones.
Shuman’s party pledges strong stance against corruption
-more emphasis on public ownership
A strong stance against corruption, full respect for the separation of powers and more public ownership rather than privatisation are key aspects of the governance section of the manifesto released last Thursday by the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP).
The 62-page document, the first from any of the parties planning to contest the upcoming general elections, saw a greater role for public ownership.
“Private interests have ruled the roost for far too long. The result is a society scarred by inequalities of power and wealth, and a planet plundered of resources and damaged by pollution. Those elites with power and wealth have done very well; everywhere else there is agony. Politics has fragmented communities, public institutions have weakened, people’s lives are dominated by insecurity, and prejudice is rife. We live in a price-tag society – and if you can’t pay the price, too bad. In racially divided consumer societies like ours, the common good has been forgotten. So much government has been put out to tender, and corrupted. The reins have been handed over to the unfettered market and corporate interests. Things that used to be done by public agencies have been outsourced.
