When the ugly truth hits home, diplomacy 704 goes out the door.

Nov 17, 2019 Letters

Dear Editor,

The response by the MPI to a F. Kissoon article on traffic lights -“Response to KN article” on November 13 is pathetic, an insult to the intelligence of the Guyanese people. Silence would have been a more acceptable response than to tell the Nation that,” the backup batteries were stolen” and “As the Ministry works to replace those batteries in the shortest possible time, we would like to urge all road users to be cautious.” This is not the first time that we have seen the term ” shortest possible time” taken into the realm of opposites by the Coalition. The cry and call for functional traffic lights in the city goes back for years and nothing significant had been done to improve our ageing or probably outdated traffic lights. The columnist publicly berated MPI and the president on a sensitive issue. MPI felt so rattled, it could not resort to the diplomatic code 704 (when faced with the ugly truth, do no respond, time will dissipate the heat). On a populace that has been “tossed to and fro” by every transgression “under the sun”, the heat invariably dissipate faster. “Shortest possible time” and a subsequent article that valued the 28 batteries at less than 3 million dollars, derailed MPI intent on cajoling the public into thinking that the Cobalt for the batteries that power our traffic lights has not yet been mined from Mali or MPI lack the resources to pay for these, assumedly, special batteries.
While it is alleged that the backup batteries were stolen, a technician had often been seen working on what seems like a circuit board at Eccles junction. The traffic lights at the Eccles junction on the EBD main road, which has not been functioning 24/7 for the last three weeks has the red lights blinking continuously. Our kids are taught at school that a bulb cannot blink or light without a power source (batteries). Is the MPI trying to change the concept of quantum physics in relation to the production of light? We have already seen an attempt on mathematics by the Coalition, where it was intended that 3 should no longer be a majority of 5.
Ours is a culture, intricately linked to the consumption of alcohol. That is not about to change in the near future, not with our distillers producing world renown brands the we are proud of. In this regard, the police, with all their sophisticated gadgetry (breathalyzers and speed guns) will never be able to stop an occasional, or should I say regular, drunken driver from creating mayhem on the roads, in which lives will be lost. It is a sad fact that we have to live with! That should not deter or dampen any Govt resolve for protecting its citizens on our overcrowded roadways by effectively maintaining our fleet of traffic lights. Traffic Lights were invented to control or reduce chaos and confusion; saving lives and collateral damage to vehicles on roads around the world.
The traffic cops who man those vital points on our congested roadways at rush hours should be commended. No one should expect them to be there 24 hours per day. It is expedient that when they are not there, the traffic lights should take over for the safety of all commuters. The ministry urging” all road users to be cautious, considerate, courteous,” is viewed as a ludicrous attempt to substitute the traffic lights by human qualities that are never constant.
Rudolph Singh.

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