Dear Editor,
I was amazed to see our Home Affairs Minister and his colleagues voicing their disappointment when his Bills were recently not passed in the National Assembly. I asked some of my friends why try to change the name of the Guyana Police Force, when it will have the same corrupt officers and victimized officers as before, and they were of the opinion that was a waste of time and taxpayers money.
Look at our neighbour Brazil, and how what started out as a simple protest against an increase in the cost of public transportation has evolved because of commuters’ frustration. It would have been interesting to see a Bill being brought in the House here which would make it possible to charge those operators who increase the fares for public transportation, because as far as I am aware, there is no law under which they can be charged. Over the years, fares have been increasing against the government’s advice, and at certain hours the operators charge three times the amount. At present, there is no zoned bus in Guyana that charges the exact amount this government fixed, and every time there’s a noise, they come out and advise us to walk with the exact fare because there’s no law against what the operators are doing.
Editor, apart from that, there are too many deadly hit and run accidents happening here, and most of them occur at night when traffic officers cease to exist on the roadways. Again I wonder why not pass a law that mandates all auto-body workshops to report details of work that has to be done on a vehicle. There are bound to be marks and damage to a vehicle when it’s involved in an accident, and with all these workshops around, one can take a vehicle there and all evidence could be erased the same day. I am aware most of these workshops are not registered and evade paying taxes, but if such a law were passed, I am quite sure we would get results and at the same time it would make the work of officers easier.
Mr Rohee might be under the impression his Bills might have an impact in Guyana, but for me, it’s a waste of time in and out of Parliament, and I believe he’s aware the opposition was going to reject them, but instead of doing something that would benefit all of us, he decided to go ahead and continued to play games whilst our country continues to get more lawless.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
