Are our leaders paying attention?

Jan 20, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – I wonder if some “leaders” ever read the letters column to have an idea how citizens think.
I recall when I wrote critically about sugar under the coalition, the CEO called me in to discuss. But even though President Granger asked for ideas with reference to sugar, my friend and I created a 12-page document and presented it to him and the Minister, we were never called for discussion.
When I wrote a reasonable letter on sugar, three General Managers responded attacking me. Many felt the letter was not written by them. The letter however did not deal with the issues I raised.
I wrote a letter on education and, among other things, suggested ways of responding to the bad CXC results in Mathematics and English, no response. I have not seen in the press any pronouncement, by the Minister or the Education Ministry, of any strategy to deal with the poor performances over the years.
I also questioned the need for 14 subjects in Grade 7 and that the best teachers should be in the lower forms so by the end of the third year, student should be able to self study.
I will however keep writing on the little issues that affect the ordinary people that goes unnoticed by the relevant authorities.
One is our roads. I know the ‘big ones’ do not travel in their own vehicles. If something goes wrong, the State repairs them. Maybe this is why they do not pay much attention.
Recently, I saw on Facebook videos of a car involved in an accident and the driver injured. It hit a pothole in the road. There were other videos of cars hitting potholes on the public road. Some had their tyres damaged and also had their rims broken. A friend of mine said he hit a pothole and his tyre was damaged. I hit one on the East Coast Embankment road recently and I had to replace the tyre. It happened to me before also. I am certain others have suffered. I want to point out that such potholes can cause vehicles to crash leading to the loss of lives.
Another issue is the humps. Sometime ago, a car went into the embankment from a street and it was hit. Some smart government leader decided the way forward was to place humps at the approach to the embankment and since then we have graduated to be a humping nation.
So instead of stop signs, we put humps and then we commenced to put humps all over apparently to slow traffic. I know these leaders travel overseas and would or should know what a speed bump looks like but somehow when they arrive in Guyana, they forget so we have a situation where one reaches the hump, stops, proceeds cautiously, scrapes the bottom of the vehicle and then proceeds.
Now at the street head, they would put not one but two so one stops, proceed to graze the bottom of the vehicle, then stop again and graze the bottom of the vehicle a second time, then proceeds.
You can imagine how often one has to change one’s brakes liners.
The other matter in relation to humps is that when one turns into a street, you hit a hump then you hit another. Even if these humps for some reason unknown to me are so necessary, why place them so close to the end of the street.
Now humps have been placed at various points on busy roads and streets. So many are not painted so one sometimes does not see them until you are near. It is even more difficult to see them at night especially when cars are coming at you from the other direction with their lights blinding you. These humps can cause serious accidents.
Now if one travels to neighbouring Suriname. They have humps, “Drumpel” and there are adequate signs alerting drivers, none in Guyana. Well enough of humps.
Rumble Strips. I saw a couple of rumble strips some time ago and called the PS of Public Infrastructure of the previous government and he suggested I speak to the road officer. I was told that the strips are to slow traffic. Well, we know it is better to drive fast over these strips.
I could be corrected but I am of the opinion that these strips are to alert one of changing conditions and to caution drivers. They are usually placed before turns and when there is a change of speed limits as in Suriname. In addition, there are adequate signs alerting drivers that they are approaching these strips.
We need some of these strips on the Rosignol to Georgetown public road. Driving at night is a veritable nightmare. In addition, while in some places, there are a number of signs indicating turns in most places there are none. It is important for these signs to be put in place.
And please Minister of Public Works, please work with the Traffic Department and ensure the roads are properly lined. The absence of guidelines is making the road a very dangerous place.
While I am talking about lines, let me recommend some collaboration between the Traffic Department and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure so we could have lines and signs that make sense and some logic. I will say some more about lines and signs later.
I am calling on the government to remember that it is not illegal to put traffic lights in places other than Georgetown. For starters, on the West Bank Demerara at the bridge/public road intersection. Also, at the Canje road where it intersects with the NA Corentyne public road. These are required urgently.
It is ok to develop the country and have growth but vital to do things to make the lives of the ordinary people more comfortable. You need their votes. The people would eventually unite and tie their votes to the day-to-day improvement of their lives.

Rajendra Bisessar, LLB BSc

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