Giftland taxi service, Massy supermarket: This is Guyana

Jul 15, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – I am getting older each day, and my mind cries out each day for the capacity to understand my country. I have a friend in the trade union movement who heads one of the unions. I saw him often in the newspapers picketing the Office of the President (OP). His concerns range from the oil contract to minimum wage.

As a trade unionist, he should be picketing the offices of the private security firms. Some of these companies, as a matter of policy, do not pay NIS for their workers. I get heart-breaking stories from the security ranks of these companies all the time. It is time the law prosecute these recalcitrant owners.

Why my friend does not picket these security firms? The answer is publicity. If you protest outside OP, the press is likely to put your name and face in front of the nation. You get what you always wanted – publicity. But if you protest outside an unknown guard service, your psychological is deflated because the media ignores you.

I have never seen the women rights groups have a letter published in the newspapers about the suffering of women in these security outfits. Do you know the actual fact about these security companies is that most of their guards are women? I am yet to see a civil society group picketing the banks on their mistreatment of small depositors.

I like the way Ralph Ramkarran has put it. I found it appropriately hilarious. I have mentioned Mr. Ramkarran’s description several times on this page and I plan to do so on the Gildarie-Freddie Show that is featured on social media. He wrote in his Stabroek News column, there are many areas of concern to the nation that civil society groups can get involved in rather than opting for preferred terrains that have sex appeal. So why don’t these civil society entities picket the private security firms and the commercial banks?

Please call me at 614-5927 or email me at [email protected] and here is a promise – if you are aggrieved at the mistreatment by the commercial banks, the private security companies, etc., and you plan to hold a picket exercise, I will join you. Now for the headline of this column.

After the airing of the first Gildarie/Freddie Show, I received hundreds of emails with dozens of complaints. Here is a heart-breaking one. After receiving the mail, I met with three of the complainers. Here is the story of a wrong that must be righted. The designated Giftland taxi service consists of men who own their own cars and they pay a weekly rent to Giftland.

These men told me that most of the time, they break even and if when they make a profit, it is hardly substantial. Their income is dwindling because outside hire cars come into the compound and solicit patrons and do it barefacedly and Giftland security would see them and refuse to chase them away.

This is wrong and Giftland must correct it. I will call Giftland’s owner, Roy Beepat and Giftland’s security manager, Mr. Baksh and ask that they intervene. This is blatant nonsense and a terrible atrocity. These drivers pay Giftland and Giftland has an obligation to protect them. Now to Massy supermarket.

I buy my groceries from a small businessman, the supermarket owned by my friend, Lalta Gainda on UG Road where I live but because Massy has things I need like fruits and vegetables and cooked food, I’m in that place often. I was one of its first customers. I live directly opposite Massy. A quick diversion.

I once wrote a column about a mystery in Survival Supermarket on Sheriff Street. I would meet very nice cashiers, really superb personalities that make Guyana a nice country. After three months, these people would disappear. I once asked the owner why that is so since I never saw this pattern in other retail outlets. In fact, I know three Chinese outlets in which many of the attendants are still there after years.

I came to know the staff at Massy very well including all the pharmacists. About 95 percent of those that I came to know are gone. Massy is now going through the Survival Supermarket syndrome. So after the Gildarie/Freddie Show, I was invited to meet with one staff member. Well! Well! Things are never what they appear to be. Massy conglomerate based in Trinidad is a super-rich company. But apparently things at Massy are not what we would expect from a Caribbean giant, like Massy. But I guess they operate from Guyana and Guyana is – you know what?

(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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Giftland taxi service, Massy supermarket: This is Guyana

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