Dear Editor,
Yet another reported practice of the public service system has disturbed my mind and I urgently seek a public response from your office. Several fellow travellers on the river route between Supenaam and Parika, as well as attendants at the Supenaam ferry stelling have made it clear to me that the system used to board travellers driving motor vehicles onto the ferry is not a simple number system (first come, first served). I was made to understand that no matter how early you showed up, (even the morning before), once there are drivers holding something called a ‘priority’ document from the Department of Transport and Harbours, no matter how late these drivers showed up, they are given ‘priority’ over you, and if there are enough of such ‘priority’ vehicles to fill the ferry, you are turned away and have to spend the night or the rest of the day awaiting the second ferry. I also understand that one of the criteria for having a priority document is being a government official or getting the sanction of a government official.
I now wonder whether the Chinese government knows of this priority system. Did it recommend such a system when it donated the ferries? Is this the system that the Chinese Ambassador, Cde Yu Wenzhe had in mind when he said that the two ferries are examples of the cooperation that “will benefit the ordinary people, workers, farmers and the people on both sides, China and Guyana”?
If this is the system agreed upon by both countries, is it possible that the Chinese government might agree to donate a special ferry for government officials and a separate ferry for ordinary people so that ordinary people can go the ordinary first come first served way on the ordinary people’s ferry, and the government officials can go their priority way on their own priority ferry? Guyanese have been known as the most hospitable people in the Caribbean, and I am sure that ordinary Guyanese would welcome the separation; the government officials would be much more comfortable, and we will be able to recognize each other across the waters.
Yours faithfully,
Charlene Wilkinson
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the Transport and Harbours Department for any comment they might wish to make.
