Another Joke: “Guyanese can soon report crimes on public transport with new app”

Apr 03, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – I had to read it ‘over and over’ again. It is the news from Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, who informed the public that “A new app, currently in its final stages of development, is set to change the way crimes are (being) reported on public transport in Guyana.”

Fatuous Quipster! This is ludicrous. I mean do we have a problem reporting any kind of crime in Guyana? This is the age of ‘immediacy of communication’ and with accompanying evidence as well, to substantiate just about any issue. Minister Benn, almost in prankster style, revealed that “The app will allow passengers to record misdemeanours and incidents on public transportation, giving the Police Force the opportunity for an immediate response to deal with these issues.”

Is this some revolutionary unfolding in the making? Guyana’s traffic woes, like so many other infractions, are well known, quite public and can almost always elicit nothing from those in authorities.

For example, the garbage and noise phenomena continuously remain unaddressed by the authorities; those who seek to comply with the corresponding and existing laws seem like deviants. Simply put, to exercise caution and compliance regarding garbage disposal and noise pollution makes one stand out as an aberration.

Let me make my few comments and then a pronouncement.

Editor, the problem of ‘police response’ is a non-issue. The cops know the offenders. The cops observe the offenders. One wonders if the cops have a pact with offenders. The cops choose when and how they will respond to complaints. I have observed that police vehicles are more noticeable running personal errands, making social visits or buying food. What adds to these ‘running sores’ is the use of the siren to facilitate these state vehicles as the cops indulge in their jocund pastimes. This is shameless and smacks of mischievous juvenility.

I dare, Minister Robeson Benn, AG Anil Nandlall and President Irfaan Ali to use “Action Line” and make a few random anonymous/disguised calls to some police stations, and let the public listen in. Of course, it has to be in the form of sting operations. I have listened to quite a few of the generic responses from police stations, where the ‘formatted response’ is ‘We will send the patrol as soon as it comes in.’

By way of illustration, I revisit the perennial ‘Sita Bar’ saga. It came up in a letter yet again. In “Sita’s bar refusing to abide with the EPA rules” (Stabroek News March 30, 2023), the distraught residents in the affected area noted that “Sita continues to host her popular DJ and noisy activities, (and) does not even realise what a hazard she creates and what hatred she has induced within the minds of the senior citizens and the people of Station Street.”

The letter explained that “Her stubbornness and unwillingness to have her place enclosed have her ‘not abiding with the EPA rules.’ It also followed two complaints in the press in the month of December 2022, namely, “Dreadful noise nuisance on a nightly basis from Sita’s Bar & Liquid Love” and “The noise nuisance emanating from Sita’s Bar forces us the residents to close up and stay indoors.”

I mean who owns this bar? That will answer why the ‘Licence to be Recalcitrant’ is accompanying the ‘Licence to Operate’ anytime and anyhow.

Maybe the minister is in a sheltered vacuum, or his sensibilities have long become sclerotic. The point is that like noise offenders, the traffic offenders are well-known and are easily traceable. Noise, like traffic misdemeanours cannot be perpetrated secretly. They are both palpable to the ear, sight and recording systems.

So, the risibility and otiosity of the Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, continues. His farce is couched in the announcement made at the recent Guyana National Road Safety Stakeholders Forum, where he emphasised “… the importance of the app in improving public safety and reducing crime on public transport.” He wasted time, effort, money and words in saying that “We have to get people to say if you are speeding, please put me off or make a report… this will allow persons to record a matter that  ongoing and send it to a centre for actions to be taken either immediately or later on.”

Let me close by making it like ABC for him: All Guyana know. All Guyana are seeing. And all Guyana have learned ‘how to get by until they get out.’ I emphasize that nothing will enable the Police to respond quickly and effectively to any issues that arise, ensuring the safety and security of all passengers.  They know the game of ‘who’ and ‘when.’ The pervasiveness of so many evils, as traffic and noise are just a few, is what attracts personnel to the force, keeps them there, and allows for a comfortable living.

I remind ‘those running the show’ that adherence to road rules now entails automated traffic enforcement, involving evident police presence on the roadways and the use of technology, to locate and apprehend traffic offenders, to ensure traffic compliance. The technology is in everyman’s possession, and of course, vehicles can be monitored digitally. This is nothing monumental right?

I say to the Minister, to AG Nandlall and President Ali: “Get real,” unless you do not care about the depleting population and the burning fever to leave the country.

Yours truly,
Gaylord Riley

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