By Prior Beharry
THE Confederation of Regional Business Chambers (CRBC) claims no mass withdrawals from its organisation.
Chairman Vivek Charran admitted to AZPNews.com on Tuesday that a number of business groups did pull out of the CRBC but did so over a period of time including this year and in 2020.
But, President of the Arima Business Association Christian Rampersad said the CRBC does not have a proper constitution, code of conduct or management plan in place.
He also questioned the election process of the executive of the CRBC. These were some of the reasons for the withdraws. And while the disclaimer stated that there were problems with some of the views expressed by the confederation, he did not want to say what they were.
A disclaimer was issued this week by a number of organisations that withdrew from the confederation.
They included:
- Arima Business Association;
- Chaguanas Chamber of Commerce;
- Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce;
- San Juan Business Association;
- Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Dealers’ Association;
- Petroleum Dealers Co-operative Society; and
- Sangre Grande Chamber of Commerce.
But Charran said there was no mass exodus as over time a number of organisations pulled out.
He said some of the withdrawals came after a new executive and president of a chamber came into office.
Charran is also a former president of the San Juan Business Association.
He said that the CRBC was growing and pointed out that it had a constitution that was currently being vetted by its lawyers.
Rampersad noted that a grouping of chambers and business associations was a good idea as it facilitates lobbying and provides strength in numbers in getting across certain views.
But he said there were concerns about the processes within the CRBC.
But a joint release on Tuesday by Charran and vice president of the CRBC Richardo Mohammed stated that it still represented 12 business bodies.
These included:
- Eastern Business Merchants Association;
- The Cunupia Business Association;
- Gasparillo Chamber of Commerce;
- The Greater San Fernando Chamber of Commerce;
- The Penal Debe Chamber of Commerce;
- The Siparia Chamber of Commerce;
- The Fyzabad Chamber of Commerce;
- The Point Fortin Chamber of Commerce;
- The Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago;
- The Tobago Chamber of Commerce;
- The Yacht Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago; and
- The Retailers Association of Trinidad and Tobago.
The CRBC release stated that its formation was for the smaller chambers to speak with one voice on matters that affect the business community and to sensitise the national community on the importance of the small and medium enterprise sector as well as family-based businesses.
It added, “In addition, the confederation has participated in Government forums and budgetary consultations. We have a very good working relationship with the minister of trade and the Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, the confederation enjoys a great collaboration with the joint chambers.
“Like all other organisations, we try to seek the widest consensus as possible and there have been disagreements which the confederation tried to manage. Nonetheless, it must be made clear that there have been no mass withdrawals from the confederation.
“Mass withdrawals refer to all the said chambers who placed this particular press release that they have all pulled out at the same time.
“In fact, it is between 2019 and 2021 that these different chambers have exited the confederation at different times. So to state that there was a mass withdrawal is not completely true.
“In addition to this, some of the successors of chamber presidents who were foundation members of the confederation took decisions to leave the confederation for their own individual reasons.
“However, the bigger picture here is collaboration and raising critical issues into the public space collectively to positively affect the Policymakers. It is a highly unusual and strange move to put out such a press release, which is not at all called for.
“The Confederation of Regional Business Chambers continues to be a robust and relevant voice of business and will continue to air its views in the national interest.
