By Jeff Trotman
Hire car drivers staged a protest on October 20th, calling for the removal of a $20 increase in the toll on cars crossing the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge but the Linden IMC will not consider the demand.
The hire car drivers’ concern and actions caused heated debate at the October statutory meeting of the Linden IMC on October 22nd, when the IMC Chairman, Orrin Gordon, stated that he had received a letter on October 20th from the Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon, asking him to attend a meeting on October 21st on the matter.
Gordon said he could have ignored the letter but because one of his own was involved, he was placed in a box that was contrived since IMC member Gordon Callendar was at the meeting with the Regional Chairman along with hire car divers. Gordon said the hire car drivers said that they were unable to pay any increase in the bridge toll and they wanted some consideration to be given to them. He said the hire car drivers also raised two other issues, including payment for parking on Pine Street. He said it was suggested that the hire car drivers form themselves into an organized body in order to hold discussion with the town council.
The IMC Chairman stressed that the town council worked hard to obtain additional revenue sources to ensure that its workers receive increased wages and salaries and now that it has succeeded in one area, Callendar is collaborating with persons outside of the council to thwart the move.
Stressing that the municipality had requested over a year ago that government holding company NICIL and the government raise the toll for vehicles that ply the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge, Gordon explained that the council did not pursue the matter vigorously because it had other important matters on the front burner, including the closure of the Kara Kara Toll Point as well as upgrading and broadening property taxes. But the increase in the minimum wage in July and the need for additional income to pay workers forced the council to explore immediate and substantial sources of revenue while at the same time trying to minimize any additional impact on the residents of the town so that only an additional $20 increase was suggested for mini buses, cars and 4×4 vehicles.
Highlighting that 80% of the traffic on the bridge would contribute less than 20% of the revenue, the IMC Chairman said, “so, we were not unreasonable in that we were looking out for the residents of the community,” and he recalled that IMC member, Charles Sampson and himself explained the situation at press conferences and on television. “Yet, people were saying that they did not know what was going on.”
He said the hire car drivers were told at the meeting at the Regional Chairman’s Office to write a letter to the town council for a meeting to reconsider the rate increase for cars. Gordon said he told the hire car drivers that the new rates were set up by the government and should have been made effective from October 10th. Stressing that he had to fight to get the increases, Gordon emphasized that he would not be going back to the government to request any reduction in the rate increase, which the council as a collective had fought to achieve.
PPP/C member of the IMC, Eon Halls, said he was about to cross the bridge on Monday morning when he saw Callendar and some hire car drivers by the Wismar shore of the bridge and he videoed the gathering. Halls said he became upset when Callendar told the drivers that the government had imposed the increase. Halls said he explained to the drivers that “Mr. Callendar was one of the most vocal persons to get the increase so that the council would have money to pay its workers”.
Ignore
He said Callendar told the drivers to ignore him and suggested that they go to the Regional Chairman’s office. He said the drivers left their cars by the bridge and walked the Regional Chairman’s office. He stressed, “instead of coming to the town council, they end up in a political office with Mr. Callendar”.
In response, Callendar said he heard the IMC Chairman first and he heard Halls speaking about the hire car drivers going to a political office – that of the Regional Chairman – but there was no mention of the presence of Horace James, the CEO of Linmine, and the Police Commander, who were also present at the meeting.
Gordon said that he did not refer to the two persons because he was focusing on the people, who were directly related to the two councils. Callendar then explained that as a community leader, he responded to a telephone call he had received at home on Monday. He said when the IMC Chairman was in China, a year ago, and the Minister of Local Government closed the Kara Kara Toll Point, the PPP/C activists did not speak out against “their political masters” even though they were aware that Sampson and others from the Linden IMC had written to the Ministry of Local Government, requesting that the toll point be allowed to continue to function so that revenue could be obtained to pay the workers.
Callendar said on Monday he called the Regional Chairman and the hire car drivers said they would walk from the bridge to the Regional Chairman’s office. He said the Regional Chairman had an audience with the drivers in the RDC boardroom. He added that the Chairman invited RDC Councillor Audwin Rutherford of the AFC to be at the meeting at which the Chairman said that he had been accused by the IMC Chairman of dealing with the bridge. He said the Regional Chairman told the drivers that it was a town council matter and James of the Linmine Secretariat should also be involved and he would send a letter to Gordon and James as well as the Police Commander and for someone from the Public Works Ministry in Georgetown to attend a meeting at his office on the following day. Callendar said while the other invitees turned up, nobody from the Ministry of Public Works attended the subsequent meeting.
Stating that he did not organize any protest, Callendar said that even if he had done so, it was his legal right and he would confront anyone on behalf of the PNC as long as he was standing up for what is right.
The IMC Chairman then advised Callendar that he has a moral responsibility to the workers of the municipality. He said he cannot stop Callendar from acting on behalf of people outside of the town council but Callendar is aware that the increase in the bridge toll was something that the council had pursued for some time.
Reiterating that he was placed in a box at the meeting at the Regional Chairman’s Office, Gordon said that he told the hire car drivers to send a letter to the council for the rate increase to be reconsidered. He, however, re-emphasized that he would not be taking any proposal to the government for any change, especially since he and members of the council had to endure several harrowing meetings with NICIL and government officials, including the Prime Minister, before an increase was given. The IMC Chairman also noted that the Ministry of Public Works had published the toll increases in the newspapers.
Stating that he had no problem with the council seeking additional sources of revenue, Callendar maintained that the government has shown little interest in supporting the council’s requests to broaden property tax in the town and when the Kara Kara toll station was shut down and the council tried to make it continue to operate there was no support from the two PPP councillors.
