Inniss: Private sector not one to be proud of

by Mike KingBARBADOS’ PRIVATE SECTOR needs  to get its act together.And according to Cabinet Minister Donville Inniss, there are some elements of the private sector with a mendicant approach, providing sub-standard  service and in no position to take this country forward.Inniss told the SATURDAY SUN after speaking at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus’ annual Health Day yesterday, that the private sector needed to be more creative and more innovative.“I have been critical of the public sector in the past and will continue to be constructively critical of them wherever necessary, but I don’t want people for any one moment to feel we have a private sector in this country that we can be extremely proud of.“There is a sizeable portion of the private sector that are like mendicants, feeding off the public sector, feeding off Government contracts and charging exorbitant fees and providing bad service. That is not the kind  of private sector that will move this country forward,” he said.Inniss said the private sector wanted more than they were providing.“Every time you talk it is about more subsidies, more subventions, a better price for goods and services, and I am not seeing the commensurate improvement in service coming from the private sector in Barbados.”“Sometimes, the Government is guilty of delays in paying and if you don’t pay  a supplier, you can’t expect the same service, and even when Government pays on time and pays above the going rate, you still have delays in delivery; you still have a feeling that Government can wait to have things done.”Inniss took issue with customer service in the private sector.“There are too many private entities in this country that have customer service departments that cannot make the passing grade.“I am very concerned because if this  is the kind of private sector that we are depending on to turn around this economy and move this country forward, I cannot tell you that I am very excited.”Inniss, a former entrepreneur, said there needed to be a serious awakening in this country if Barbados was to climb out of the global economic recession.“Our private sector need to be far more market-oriented, far more customer focused and they need to stop that mendicant attitude and stop feeling that Government must protect and defend them at every step of the way.”