It is unusual but not unique for a columnist in one newspaper to cast personal and professional aspersions on another columnist in the same newspaper. Unfortunately this happens in SN a little too frequently, particularly by those writing under pen names and so called "not serious" columns.

The latest case appears in 'Frankly Speaking' (SN, 8.2.02) which juxtaposes the efforts by various ministries and Go-Invest to woo investors and the findings of the Business Outlook Survey 2002 published by Ram & McRae and then recommends that the survey "should be examined for what it is worth." Mr Fenty questions "who were the respondents" and, without offering any grounds, the accuracy of the report on the state of the economy, the predictions and the remedies.

Ram & McRae have been conducting annually a Business Outlook Survey for the past eight years. Patterned after similar surveys carried out by Ernst & Young International, the report receives widespread acclaim, both locally and internationally. It represents the views of a wide cross-section of the business community ex-pressed voluntarily and anonymously and confidentially. The report is entirely apolitical. Do we have to politicize everything?

Mr Fenty would have read the press statement by the firm's Managing Partner at the launching of the Report in which he said inter alia, "Each year, copies of the Report are made available to political leaders, government officials, business leaders, investors and, of course, the media and it is accessible on our company's website for public and student research. Indeed, for the first time we will be offering access to the University of Guyana to the raw data for further analysis."

For the information of readers, Ram & McRae has just been identified by the Commonwealth Business Institute as the Guyana partner for Foreign Direct Investment in Guyana. We do not see our role as professionals to be inconsistent with promoting Guyana as an investment destination.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Ram