Dear Editor,
No other country permits reckless and dangerous drivers to keep their driver’s license after almost killing and maiming a child. A country has to be sick if it permits its children to be maimed and murdered by reckless minibus drivers. Minibuses don’t kill and maim children; drivers do. To put it bluntly, in Guyana no one cares about the sanctity of life and especially, poor children lives.
Guyana is a dangerous place to live and Sheriff’s Street is the most dangerous street for pedestrians. Recently, my niece was going to school when she was struck by a minibus. How she didn’t die is nothing short of a miracle. Since the accident the police never called to see if my niece is recovering. All the phone calls to him goes unanswered. So far, no police report was taken from the victim. The police didn’t do a report at the hospital. The police reported that he couldn’t come to the victim home to do a report. The police wants an immobile victim go to the police station to do the report. The victim is unable to walk and is in a lot of pain so she can’t go to the station to make the report.
Even though it is bad that my niece almost died is badly wounded but what is far worst is how the police is handling the situation. He seems to be helping the driver more than the victim. The driver was released from the jail and is saying he doesn’t have any money to pay for the victim’s medical bills. He almost killed my niece and left her with a lifetime of back pain, and he can’t even pay her medical bills. This also is unsurprising. This is Guyana. This is Guyana’s justice system. No one cares about the victim. No one has a conscious and everyone is callous. The police, driver, court and the leaders.
The driver will continue driving until he strikes another child. The government has to take some responsibility for allowing the dangerous and reckless minibus drivers. The government is allowing the reckless and dangerous drivers to continue to drive the minibuses. The government refused to provide government bus services and to take off the private minibuses off the road.
The government’s children are safe from accidents. The government’s children don’t have to take these minibuses or walk on Sheriff’s Street. The poor and disadvantaged children like my niece do. This is why most of the pedestrians being struck by minibuses are the poor and powerless. These accidents are not affecting the wealthy and well connected in Guyana. So they don’t care about a poor child being struck by a minibus. This is Guyana. No one really cares.
I don’t want to take my niece to the police station to make a report because I can see that the matter was already settled between the police and driver. I don’t want to take my niece to the police station to make a report for her to be re-victimized knowing that the police and driver have already settled the matter. Going to the station and being re-victimized by the police would be more painful than the accident. Why waste time making a police report, everyone knows there is no law or justice in this country for poor children. Guyana is a dangerous country and Sherriff’s Street is a dangerous street for pedestrians and no one cares.
Sincerely,
Anthony Pantlitz
