Policy-makers must understand the peculiarities of their country

Dec 30, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I was trapped in Eccles on Monday afternoon, trying to get to Herstelling. For half an hour, traffic was immobilized due to a huge build-up of vehicles because the bridge was closed. For all of us in that long, winding queue, we knew there was only one route that takes you up the East Bank Highway. This is one of the limitations of Guyana.
Any policy-maker, whether Cabinet Minister, police-officer or municipal official, must be conscious of the structural characteristics that differentiate his territory from other lands. I guess all Bolivians must know that their country does not have a direct access to any sea or ocean.
Just before Christmas was about to dawn upon the nation, the Commissioner of Police ordered that sand-trucks and other huge carriers cannot use the East Bank highway from 6PM to 6AM. There is absolutely nothing wrong with vehicular restrictions. This happens all over the world.
Matters become complicated when such an embargo is placed upon vehicles without taking into consideration the nature of the country. In Nigeria, South Africa, India, Mexico, the US, the UK and dozens of other countries, such a policy would not have affected the livelihood of the truckers or the construction industry because there are dozens of alternative roads.
Such facilities do not exist in Guyana. It is extremely myopic for any policy-maker to limit use of the East Bank Demerara highway for twelve hours to sand-trucks. The explanation is not elaborate. If I should see the Commissioner I will offer my theory to him just in case he misses this article.
When I was building my home, truckers delivered sand at 5AM. These small business people reach the pit at 4AM. I had had experience of sand delivered at 7PM at the construction site. This is how Guyana operates. Construction workers go round the clock.
There is a memory that will stay with me a long time. Opposite the Caricom Secretariat, there is a Caricom annex. It is a huge edifice, four levels tall. I live nearby. When that building was going up, you won’t believe what I saw. Work proceeded on that structure every day of the calendar year, including all the religious and non-religious holidays, taking in Christmas and Easter and Mash Day.
I saw trucks deliver sand and stone at that site way into the late evening. To stop trucks using the East Bank Demerara highway from 6PM to 6AM is unjustified, shortsighted and to use a harsh word, foolish.
Commissioner Green has to know Guyana is a country where to get to the East Bank villages, the Linden highway and the airport; there is only one route. Unless of course, you order your sand through a speed boat owner, who will put the truck onto the boat and sail on the Demerara and discharge the stuff on the Kingston jetty next to where the Marriot Hotel was to be built.
I haven’t seen Commissioner Greene for a long time even though in the middle of 2009, I made phone contact with him to get a response to a political statement he made which conflicted with his public servant status.
He promised to check my information and get back to me. I haven’t heard from him as yet. But when next I see him, I will protest this edict of his. It makes no sense in terms of the construction industry.
A policy maker like the Georgetown Municipality and the Ministry of Works must understand the country in which they operate. Guyana is a very poor country. Comparatively speaking, both our GDP and GNP put us in the category of poor Third World states. When the municipality and Works Ministry go chasing away roadside vendors and demolishing their stands, do these politicians understand that they are literally threatening the survival of these people many of whom are single mothers? When you take bread out of the mouths of these poor people, you drive them to desperation.
Where is the buoyant economy to offer them an alternative occupation?
Let me say that it is a brutal attack on poor people to just go taking them off the roadside while they are vending. If they are in front of a home, then that is a different matter. I saw where the Ministry of Works demolished two fruit business on JB Singh Road that was out of harm’s way.
One mother broke down in tears. Not only was she removed; the Ministry also took away her stocks, damaging all her papaws and bananas. Guyana’s cruelties will continue in 2010 because we are a nation of sheep.

Latest News

Policy-makers must understand the peculiarities of their country

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Wharton’s brilliance propels Chase’s Academic to another Republic...

Seales’ 4 for 5 gives West Indies control...

WARRIORS BOUNCE BACK AGAINST HAMPSHIRE

Victoria go top with second win

GFF and Namilco officially launch Maid Marian...

GFF celebrates the successful completion of...

Features/Columnists

The PPPC does not practice political inclusion

Haiti: Tragically Descending into Deeper Crisis

What’s going on with this $100,000 cash grant?

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Policy-makers must understand the peculiarities of their country

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]