THE LAW DOES NOT COVER THE HAITI FUND

Feb 10, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

As you pass most of the busiest junctions where there are traffic lights, you will during the daytime be invariably greeted by a beggar soliciting alms from motorists. Some of these beggars actually place themselves at great risk to their life and limb and can easily be run over by vehicles.
One would have presumed that the authorities would seek to limit this sort of dangerous begging which places the solicitor in a life-threatening situation. Instead, the authorities are investigating Kaieteur News for raising funds for the Haiti relief effort.
As you traverse the pavement that runs along the front of Fogarty’s, you will be approached by persons with donation sheets soliciting funds for some good cause or the other. Did those persons seek the permission of the Commissioner of Police to solicit funds in public?
Sometimes, there are groups of persons standing in the middle of the road with a banner and a box, collecting monies for some sports club or youth group. I would not like to believe that the authorities granted permission for these individuals to be doing so, since they often present an obstruction to traffic and also a danger to their own lives by trying to solicit donations in this manner. Have the police never at all seen these groups with their cardboard boxes trying to stop traffic to solicit donations? How come they have never charged any of these groups?
There are numerous charitable organizations in the country, including religious organizations, youth clubs, sporting organizations and even schools that send out donation sheets asking for financial assistance. Do they require the permission of the Commissioner of Police?
What about the masquerade bands? They go out into public places, mainly the public roadways and flounce in front of moving vehicles while collecting a little “freck” for their efforts at keeping a local tradition alive. Do they have to apply thirty days in advance before they can do their thing? And how come the police have never arrested any of them for not only obstructing traffic but for supposed breaches of the House to House and Public Collections (Control) Act?
Every law was formulated for a purpose and the House to House and Public Collections (Control) Act is not different. The Act’s intentions can be easily derived from a reading of the legislation. This Act is aimed at ensuring public order by regulating house to house collections and collections done in public places. It is intended to promote public order by ensuring that there is no right to establish collection boxes in every public corner or public nook and cranny, and the protection of the public interest by requiring permission for house to house collections.
Section 3(1) of the Act states that subject to the Act, no collection shall be made other than for charitable purposes. Section 5(1) requires permission for collections for charitable purposes. However, the very act defines “collection” to mean the collection of money or the sale of articles from house to house or in any public place. Thus the Act limits itself to the regulation of donations either through a house to house exercise or in a public place.
This is reinforced by the wording of the permit. The permit indicates that permission is granted to so and so to “collect money in the following public places” and or house to house in the following public places. The Act itself defines public places as highway, public park, garden or sea beach, public bridge, road, lane, square court, alley or passage or any open space to which the public has access.
The Act was clearly intended to control the soliciting of donations in public places and not to place under the Commissioner of Police, the responsibility to authorize all public appeals for donations. Were the latter the case, it would mean that every single non-governmental organization or charity, including Food for the Poor, would have to apply to the Commissioner of Police for permission to raise funds.
It is therefore a public embarrassment that the Guyana Police Force should find itself in a situation where it is being asked to investigate this newspaper’s establishment of a relief fund for Haiti. The Act does not cover this exercise or the many other fund-raising campaigns which are done outside of public places.
But there is a reason why Kaieteur News has been selected for investigation. This will be the subject of a subsequent column. But for now I urge the police to study the law carefully, lest they find themselves further embarrassed.

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THE LAW DOES NOT COVER THE HAITI FUND

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