GOOD JOB, MR SATTAUR!

Apr 09, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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I got a call on Tuesday from someone who wanted to inform me that he had seen an advertisement from the New Building Society, a private entity, appearing in the Guyana Times newspaper, but which did not appear in the two independent dailies. I told the caller he should instead tell me something that would surprise me.
As a building society which is NOT owned by the government, the NBS is free to place its ads wherever it pleases but surely the shareholders of that entity, like the taxpayers who fund government ads, should be concerned about value for money in the placing of advertisements.
The person called back again yesterday to let me know that an advertisement from the Ministry of Home Affairs had appeared in the same newspaper. I again requested to be told something new since I had long predicted that it will only be a matter of time before the Guyana Times is overflowing with government ads.
While I am not surprised, I am disappointed that to date none of the opposition parties have raised their voices in questioning this policy of government agencies placing ads in a paper which has not yet fully gotten off the ground and whose circulation is no match for the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News.
I have not heard the PNCR say anything about this high-tech abuse that is taking place when it comes to government ads. I have not even heard the Stabroek News complaining, like they did when they were not getting ads. At the time, they made a great noise about how the Chronicle and the Mirror were receiving ads but not them.
The support that the Guyana Times is receiving does not surprise me one bit. The surprise came in another form and was indeed welcome. I received a call indicating that ever since my criticism was published about the frustration at the Licence Revenue Office (LRO) there has been a significant improvement in service.
I had to see this for myself, and indeed things are running much smoother than before. I must give credit where credit is due and the person who deserves the greatest credit is the Commissioner-General, Mr. Khurshid Sattaur. He took the bull (no pun intended) by the horns and appeared on national television to explain the entire process and the benefits to be derived from the new system. It was a vintage performance from the Commissioner-General who put his entire public relations section to shame by the manner in which he was able to relate to the concerns being expressed about the work of the License Revenue Office.
Already there are a number of changes in place. For one, if you do not have all the required documentation in place you will not be attended to and there are persons checking to see that vehicle owners have the requisite documents. In addition, the office is now working through lunch hour, and there is a proposal for extended opening hours come next week.
While motorists should try and obtain their documentation early, the deadline to acquire the Road Service Licence has been extended to the end of June, one extra month, but vehicle owners should not wait until the last minute. They should go down to the LRO and obtain their Road Service Licences as early as possible so as to avoid the rush.
There are still large crowds and problems with parking, but the improvements are evident. There is now a traffic rank in attendance. There is still a line but the line is moving much quicker.
The absence of a larger shed at the LRO, however, means that persons have to still stand in the sun for a fair bit of time and I would suggest to the LRO that they rent a couple of big tents just for the next few months so as to ease the burden of persons having to stand in the scorching sun awaiting to enter the building, which is much cooler.
What all of this shows is that there are public officials who are willing to listen to criticisms and to take those that are constructive on board. A similar situation is taking place in respect to the Georgetown Seawall. There have been numerous complaints recently about the conditions at the Seawall and already we have seen a group being resuscitated to help clean up the area.
While the authorities may not admit it, it is because of the constructive criticisms that have been made that have allowed this action to be taken. And we should all support the enhancement of the Georgetown Seawall, which is a wonderful place to relax providing it is kept clean and safe.
I hope that in the coming months that we will see more and more action being taken when constructive criticisms are being made. What, however, is doubtful is whether any action will ever be taken to stem the abuse of public funds used to advertise in a paper still in pampers.

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