The Incompetence of GPL and GTT

May 15, 2018 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,
Last week Sunday, I had some guests from Trinidad at my church. I observed very early that we had a severe blackout on East Coast Demerara. I had to use our church generator as the blackout lasted from 6am until 5pm. In our night service, the blackout returned again around 7pm until 12 midnight. For the past ten years, my church suffered blackouts on Good Friday and Christmas Day services.
I see these blackouts now over eight times a day; that’s far worse than the Forbes Burnham era. Many students who are currently studying for as well as writing CXC and CAPE are being terribly affected.
Even worse yet for me is that all the things in my refrigerator are spoiling. Where I live – in Agriculture Road opposite NAREI overhead tank – has a real transformer problem. I have lived here for 18 years and the moment we have a slight wind, I hear these transformers going off like bombs.
Whenever I call GPL’s emergency line, they are always on voice mail, or if they answer, it is in a rude manner ‘’No staff available’’ for eighteen years! I have seen GPL crew come here sometimes days after to fix the issues on the two posts, but until now, they cannot install a proper transformer.
A neighbour told me its 30 years now they have that problem (the moment it rains or a slight wind blows the posts fires off like bombs) and the GPL crews will just come and use a stick to push up the connectors on the transformers. And these sad scenarios are occurring all over Guyana.
Many posts are rotten and twisted, some even pose great danger to citizens, yet no one from GPL is fixing them.
We also now have an imported GPL CEO that earns a “fat cat” salary, yet the incompetence and constant blackouts continue. Not surprisingly, GPL is very efficient at cutting off your light and removing your meter if you owe them. We are paying bills with VAT to GPL for a service we are not receiving.
Since these explosions and constant blackouts, over seven of my computers have been burnt on the inside, though I use three forms of protection. I was told by some top technicians and electricians that GPL’s fluctuating power will burn any piece of equipment though it has protection like stabilizers and APC backups. It’s time citizens sue GPL for millions, but I wonder if we can ever try the devil in Hell.
Now I turn my attention to GTT. In February this year I noted with interest the technicians from GTT’s Blaze team running lines in my area. They came to my house and took my information to upgrade my service for Blaze near the third week in February. They told me on 15th March I would get Blaze, so I should go and pay on the first week in March.
I went to pay but was told I won’t be getting Blaze for now; they are not ready as yet.
We are now in May, and the Blaze team has gone into other areas in Agriculture Road to install for persons who applied after me, but until now I have received no call from GTT – they failed to keep their word.
I have also observed that since they have run cables for this Blaze, my current DSL with them is extremely slow, my emails nor Facebook page cannot open. My emails are bouncing back because of the constant slow internet service GTT is now offering. The DSL service GTT is offering cannot presently cost $1,000 per month, yet we pay $6,300, $10,000 and more, and now with Blaze, we have to pay an additional $5,000 to $8,000 more a month with VAT.
The way I see it, the Blaze will turn to a snail’s pace just like DSL, for us to upgrade and be robbed, cheated and exploited the same way when they introduced DSL to replace the dial-up. In my opinion, the dial-up was working faster than the DSL and now Blaze will blaze out sooner or later.
We are being cheated and exploited by GPL and GTT, where our bills sometimes exceed our salaries. I invite any minister of government to visit any GPL and GTT office and they will see hundreds of persons cussing and querying bills.
We are just a few weeks away from celebrating our 52nd Independence Anniversary. I ask the question again: what have we achieved after 52 years of Independence? Monotonous blackouts, Internet Failures, High Crimes Daily, Murder, Suicides, Moral Degradation, Bribery, Corruption, accidents, poor drainage and irrigation, pot-holed roads all over Guyana, etc.
What have we really achieved as a nation? How do we compare ourselves to our Caribbean neighbours? We have become a failed state. Cutting ribbons and COIs don’t run a nation. Our current Administration needs a new vision plan of administration to govern this nation or we will be left far behind in this era of technology. While we are in blackouts, our Ministers in Government are in bright lights; they are more fortified and protected than us while citizens are robbed and killed in the blackouts.
This nation is a clear scenario of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, his classic books of political bigotry and human exploitation. Human selfishness has taken over the minds of our politicians, it’s about time they implement new policies of change or the massive migration will empty Guyana by the time we have the next general election. President Granger will have to step up his game of governance.
Regards,
Rev. Gideon Cecil

---

---