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US$20 Taxi man embarrassed Guyanese internationally

Aug 03, 2011 Letters

 

Dear Editor,
It is disgusting to read in the international media how a taxi driver demanded US$20 to transport a victim of the CAL crash just two blocks away.  The victim, a female was in shock and traumatized and need help. And this hoodlum wanted US$20 help the female victim.
I am told the news on CNN, CBS, ABC made reference how taxi drivers fleeced the victims instead of helping. That is now the image of the country. We don’t even have honest taxi drivers.  The country has surely fallen way low from when it was under colonial rule. I hope it was only one driver who wanted $20 and that the others were helpful to the victims.
Everywhere I went since the Saturday morning accident, Trinis make wise jokes about the $20 taxi – that is how they define Guyanese now. It is also the talk among everyone at dinner table, BBQs, and in general about the accident.
What we had in Guyana was a small group of taxi drivers who sought to fleece victims tarnishing the image of Guyanese as warm hospitable people at a very critical time in our history.  The whole world was focusing their attention on us and that taxi driver embarrassed us overseas. People can’t wait to get their hand on that taxi driver.  He would never recover from the sound trashing he would get.
These chaps remind me of the hoodlums in upstate New York who prey on victims of accidents.  Several Guyanese related incidents of being robbed by those who came to assist them following accidents in upstate NY in rough neighbourhoods peopled by minorities.
One victim, Indro from Port Mourant, driving from NY to Schenectady related how the hoodlums grabbed her purse and her gold bangle while pretending to help her.  They cleaned out her husband’s wallet and they tried to take the clothing off her son.
The $20 incident also brought back memory of a major accident in Fyrish some 25 years ago when five from the Drepaul family of Port Mourant lost their lives in a collision with a GuySuCo truck that was without headlight as they came from the airport from a flight from JFK.
Instead of trying to help the victims, the Fyrish area residents helped themselves of over US$5,000 in cash from the victims’ pockets and wallets as well as most of the peoples’ belongings such as potato, flour, channa, clothing, shoes, etc.
Those who rob victims of accidents are not human beings.
They are from the lowest birth. During a time of emergency crisis, people pull together to help victims in distress, not rob them, even if it was dark.  It was a matter of life and death. Everyone should have sought to help the victims.
How could any of these taxi drivers go to their families and related to them that they fleeced aviation victims of US$20 each.  Aren’t they ashamed of themselves?  The authorities need to launch an investigation to find the culprits and terminate their license to drive taxis.  They need to be punished – a sound beating with cat o nine tails and some jail time as well.
Vishnu Bisram

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