Lisa-Ann Joseph
What are the responsibilities of corporate TT as the fallout from covid19 threatens to devastate the economy, undo the health system and affects human life and survival?
What is certain is that countering this virus, which has caused more than 3.5 million deaths worldwide and sickened over 170 million, is not the sole responsibility of the government.
Neither is it merely a spectator sport in which we in the corporate and commercial sector in TT are allowed to sit on the sidelines and seek to find fault with those on the playing field.
To adopt such an attitude is, one, to be very irresponsible; two, to act as if we are without a stake in the economy and society; and three, if we settle for any of the above, our stance will define us in the corporate world as being merely fair-weather beneficiaries of the goodies of society.
Such an attitude not merely opens the corporate world to criticism of an unkind nature, but in fact distorts the reality of our being historical contributors to the growth and development of the people and nation.
We therefore have a responsibility to fulfil ahead of us.
So what do we do? First and foremost, we have to adhere to the protocols that have been repeated in the public space on many occasions by the health experts.
We begin where many have already started. Show in word and deed with us, the corporate leaders, as the best examples, through our employees and partners in business, our patrons and all others, that we adhere strictly to the oft-repeated protocols of washing hands, outlawing overcrowding in our establishments, wearing masks as prescribed and insisting that others do, as medical science and common sense dictate.
Simply put, following the requirements makes sense and acts as our protection against the out-of-control spread of the virus that we have been experiencing over the last almost two months.
Even at the expense of losing sales, we must adopt a pattern of behaviours which can and will slow down our business operations, but we do so in the knowledge that it will be a temporary price to pay for the long-term good.
As the Prime Minister has consistently said, it's more than losing revenue for a period of time; it's about staying alive and well. We shall eventually reap the benefits of such a strategy.
Let us make untrue, or something that has happened in the past, that certain commercial operators have sought to "duck" the protocols through some sleight-of-hand method - "smartman thing" that Trinis are supposed to be good at.
We play with our lives, our reputations and those of our employees, clients and customers if and when we give in to those base instincts. Instead, we have to start from the position of looking around for ways, in addition to partnering with the governmental authorities, to devise our own methods to initiate anti-covid19 programmes.
We must applaud the initiatives committed to by a couple of major corporations
