Mere days away from completing his first 100 days in office, President Irfaan Ali has come in for high commendations from the Private Sector Commission (PSC).
Chairman, Nicholas Boyer has offered the President and, by extension, the People’s Progressive Party government an “A grade” for the work done to revive Guyana’s economy, which had taken a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and political stalemate coming out of the protracted elections period.
Boyer said he believes the government is well on track to deliver on its manifesto promises.
“I think the President has done very well on his first 100 days in office; what they had set out in the manifesto they have started to work on and I’m happy with how they went about trying to improve things,” Boyer told the News Room on Wednesday during an exclusive interview from his Waterloo Street, Georgetown office.
As he zoomed in on President Ali’s performance, Boyer also defended the President against the flak he received with the preparation of the emergency budget where several reliefs were offered to the private sector.
The PSC Chairman also offered his support for the government’s move to begin reopening the economy and called on the political opposition to also support the government in its thrust to revive the economy.
“We need a mature political opposition; you can’t be opposition for opposition’s sake. We need an opposition that is critically thinking and one that can have a national patriotic opinion,” he added.
Boyer is particularly pleased with the attention the government has given to transformational projects including the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, alignments for new road networks and the gas to shore project.
“We have seen real movement on these projects and the government has been approaching them with the level of vigour it requires for delivery,” he noted.
Boyer is also impressed with the decision to depoliticise the COVID-19 task force in order to better serve the interest of the people.
The Private Sector Commission, as a body, already held “positive engagements” with President Ali. He said the two sides found common ground on several issues but there are some contentious issues that remain outstanding.
When asked what those issues were, Boyer would only say that the President has given his commitment to working to ensure that solutions are found. He said it included regulatory issues related to trade.
