Dear Editor,
It is gratifying to know that the current government is making leaps in assisting Guyanese. Free fertilizer for rice farmers, $150,000 grants for fisher folks, $100,000 grants for children with disabilities, cash grants of $25,000, hundreds of part-time jobs (already started), GOAL and other scholarships, distribution of hundreds of house lots, various infrastructural and other projects, to name some of the welcomed developments. However, much is lacking in other areas. When one goes to a bank/s they, most of the time, have reasonable services. Banks are ubiquitous (funding everywhere) even in rural areas. If they have to keep a copy of your document/s for their records, they do the copying right in the bank/s. This also applies to other private businesses that depend on customers to remain viable.
Juxtapose this with government entities — GRA, NIS, Passport Office etc. – that collects billions of dollars from tax payers. These entities do not have photocopiers to copy the documents of residents. They send people to copying centres to get copies, sometimes a single page, because they cannot provide that service. I know for a fact that they do it for a chosen few. The majority of residents, some senior, weak and incapacitated, have to travel to copying centres to procure copies. They walk, take taxies ($300 for short drop) or hitch rides to get copies (one page cost $20 to copy), then return to rejoin lines from the rear. Surely these entities can do better to serve the residents.
Competition is very good; telephone and internet providers now vie with each other for customers and, in so doing, improve their services, but the garbage disposal service, a monopoly in Region Two has unilaterally raised their fees four times in the past year. One Public Utilities Commission (PUC) official told me that garbage disposal is not within their purview, that I should contact the government. Well, the government needs to oversee these activities and intervene for the benefit of residents. I call on the Minister of Social Services and Protection, Finance and Immigration and others in authority to look into these latter issues which are continuous, not sporadic, in order to improve quality of service for all citizens. The good life should be manifested in all spheres.
Sincerely,
Karan Chand
Region 2 Resident
