Why is this nation accepting these abuses of power?

Oct 13, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – Think of the following; just think of how you would feel. It requires five CXC subjects with Maths and English to secure a place at UG. What happens if the Vice Chancellor unilaterally changes it to 10 CXCs? It is the same with entry into the public service. What happens if the Minister of the Public Service on her own changes it to 10?
Five persons including the driver are permitted in a private car. What happens if the Traffic Chief decides all by himself that only the driver can be in the front section and there can no longer be another person sitting in the front seat? The age of NIS retirement benefit is 60. What happens if the General Manager acting on her own behalf changes it is 68 years?
The first predictable reaction of every citizen is why this was done by one person only? The second predictable question is: did the government approve it? The third predictable response is that it is not right and should not be allowed.
I met Dr. Nigel Gravesande, the Registrar of the University of Guyana last Sunday morning in the supermarket. This gentleman is someone I consider a friend. We spent four years as UG history students and there are many fond memories just as with the former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh, who shared the identical circumstances.
The topic was the contents of my Sunday column in which I expressed uncontrollable anger at the historical and traditional lack of service in general in this country. I told Nigel I know about this tragedy because given my work wherever I go people complain to me. I told him right in the supermarket where we were standing, that I would meet people and they would transmit their feelings of anger, disgust, sadness and resignation to me.
As a social activist of over 50 years and a media operative of over 33 years, the complaints of mistreatment of ordinary citizens by commercial banks are non-stop. I am confessing to my readers that it is a subject that I am completely and absolutely fed up with (please note the two adverbs). I have no mental patience and psychological tolerance in continuing to write on this depravity and social sickness.
I come now to yet another episode of abuse of citizens by the commercial banks. I have been told over and over that the Managers of these banks unilaterally decided that they would only accept the address on a driver’s licence within a six-month period after its issuance. Please note – there is no governmental regulation, no law, no ministerial edict that directs the banks on the time line of six months.
A driver’s licence has a life of five years. Why then the time span of six months? It means if on January 2 you get your five-year licence, in June the bank will not accept your address on it. Again I ask two questions – why six months and who made that inexplicable decision?
We have a government and two parliamentary opposition parties. People voted to empower then, they must act to protect the people who voted for them. The PPP, PNC and LJP have supporters who face this abuse. Every citizen, black, white, grey, green, brown, endure all types of bureaucratic abuse. Political parties must act in the interest of those that they ask for their votes.
We have four daily newspapers yet there has been no editorial on the mistreatment of small depositors by commercial banks. The thing is that this terrible attitude by the banks is commonplace across this entire country. It is talked about all the time. There is a plethora of letters about this situation. To date there is no editorial from any newspaper. There is no statement from any parliamentarian. There is no expression from any civil society grouping.
Enter the private sector. The business folks make their money from the consumers. Ordinary people buy the products of businesses and manufacturing companies and that is what keeps them alive. The ordinary folks buy the four daily newspapers. Yet to date there has been not one word from the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Manufacturing Association on the headaches and nightmare ordinary people face at the commercial banks.
But then, there is the Bar Association. Why don’t they test these cruel indiscretions in the courts? Here is why the Bar Association, politicians and business people remain insensitive. They do not face the cruelties. Remember our local 007 banked a cheque for $1 million American dollars and no questions were asked. He went into the bank and said – “my name is Bond, James Bond.”

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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