I was elated just under two months ago when businessman Mr Patrick Casserley was elected president of the 60-odd year-old Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

For the highly successful entrepreneur comes to the chamber with a wealth of knowledge and years of experience in the business sector.

Mr Casserly who is the Observer Business Leader for 2004 started E-Services Limited back in 2000 and in less than nine years the company became the largest outsourcing centre in the region, employing thousands of people.

He subsequently sold the company to the Fortune 500 US company, ACS.

Shortly after his installation as the chamber new president –replacing newspaper publisher Lloyd B Smith– Mr Casserly underscored the need for the public to know what was being done by the chamber for the community.

He reportedly said that the chamber would have to communicate its ideas and initiatives to Montego Bay at large, “so they know what we’re doing; so that would push membership, push participation in meetings and ultimately will create a stronger chamber”.

It is against this background therefore, that I feel a sense of disappointment when I was told earlier this week by a staff member at the chamber’s office that Mr Casserly is yet to furnish a phone number or e-mail address so he may be contacted by reporters on matters pertaining to his substantive post at the chamber.

Based on what I was told by the member of staff, the procedure to get a comment from Mr Casserly on any matter has to go through the chamber.

Explaining further, she said that I should e-mail my questions to her and they would be forwarded to the president.

The president would then, (if he chose to reply, I believe) send his response to the chamber and from there it would be send to me, by what means I don’t know.

This procedure raises several questions in my mind. Suppose for instance, the matter is of a sensitive and confidential nature?

How would it be handled?

This procedure is in stark contrast to the one adopted by former chamber presidents such as Lloyd B Smith, Pauline Reid and Winston Dear who at all times made themselves available to the press.

Neither their emails addresses or their phone numbers were kept as a secret.

As the chamber goes into retreat next month to map out strategies and decide on focus areas for the administrative year, I do hope that the president will reconsider his position.

The MBCCI and the press have had a very fruitful relationship over the years.