Moving against the minibus touts

Jul 26, 2014 Editorial

Minibuses became a permanent fixture on the public transportation landscape during the 1990s years after the demise of the state run road transport system. Many of these vehicles were owned by very senior public figures who for obvious reasons wanted to cash in on the demands for an alternative mode of public transport.
The fact that duty free concessions were to be had was an incentive that could not be refused. However, the ensuing years have brought with them certain undesirable factors which bedevil both traveling public and the authorities. What was seen as affordable and accessible has turned out to be the bane of our existence with fatal accidents leading the charge.
Maybe what is needed urgently at this time is a review of the conditions for licensing drivers of public transport with a view to tightening regulations. The brutal fact remains that for every minibus crash there is the strong likelihood of multiple casualties. Another factor is the established practice of touting at the minibus parks.
As recent as June the authorities conducted exercises around the minibus parks in Georgetown. They charged 65 men for offences related to touting. But it seems as if hardly a day has passed since that campaign to rid the various parks of touts, that members of the traveling public have not been harassed by these aggressively enterprising chaps who are in the business of soliciting passengers for minibuses.
One of the more discomfiting practices which touts engage in, is the deliberate physical touching of prospective passengers at times in very private places. The unpleasant sight of teenage school girls allowing themselves to be openly fondled by touts and minibus conductors is one which sends dangerous signals about the levels of depravity to which we may be heading at full speed.
Some touts are not averse to using force to ensure that passengers accept the minibus that is being filled at that moment, while the driver and conductor behave as if that type of behaviour has absolutely nothing to do with them.
In Tanzania stakeholders fed up with the ‘chronic problem of touts’ advocated strong measures by the authorities against all bus owners and (in our case) drivers who encourage touts to by penalising them up to and including revocation of permits. It goes without saying that there is no way that such a recommendation would be implemented in a country like Guyana with its diverse partisan interests.
One thing which should occupy the thoughts of the relevant officials is the impression such behavior may be conveying to the minds of visitors to these shores. Do they see it as amusing, or does the boisterous behavior which at times borders on the confrontational suggest that – we as a nation are so impoverished that those men are quite willing to adopt seemingly desperate measures to make a living?
Do we then expect that such considerations will make that type of behaviour acceptable notwithstanding the overt rudeness, invasion of privacy and lack of respect both of self and others?
Touts are a drain on profits no matter how insignificant it may seem and if the situation is not dealt with we are likely to experience as a next step the intimidation and harassment of drivers and conductors to pay protection money. During 2012 the police in Zimbabwe conducted a campaign against a gang posing as touts and rank marshals at bus ranks in Harare who were using threats and force as extortion methods; they were banned.
It could be argued with some justification that touts like other members of society have a reasonable expectation that the system will facilitate them the access to viable income-generating alternatives. Any perceived or actual failure in the provision of less problematic means of survival, places some people in the unfortunate position of having to pursue less demanding occupations albeit skirting the boundaries of legality in some instances.
Thus far, apart from sporadic campaigns to address the burgeoning practice of touting there does not seem to be any meaningful plan which is sustainable. Some way has to be found to clean up our collective attitude which is so negatively portrayed daily in our words and actions.

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Moving against the minibus touts

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