Dear Editor,
The move to ban the importation of used tyres is wrong. Firstly, it is an impractical decision in so far as many people will be deprived of the right to drive an automobile except the wealthy.
The transportation situation has always been in a crisis here in this country, but with the evolution of techniques to combat the crippled transportation industry came the innovative idea of bringing in used tyres for low-income earners. This, together with the importation of used vehicles had assisted in closing the issue of commuting. So maybe there is some plan to stop importing used vehicles too.
This is a really bad sign coming from the decision-makers now. At least, it has come too early in the history of this nation. We need to wait a while more; maybe later when the oil and gold come. Right now, Guyanese are not on the brink of any new wealthy dawn. It is great to adopt some of the stances of the wealthy nations, but when you are just ‘mouthing’ and not just ‘living’ you are escaping a large slice of reality. The truth is we cannot just slip into some alternate reality where we will live a bourgeois lifestyle when we are just penny earners. It is just another gesture of weak-minded dreamers. The fact is, we are a poor nation and the wealth is not being evenly distributed either. The poor man has to get his morning bread somehow or somewhere.
Decision-makers need to have a broad mind and take the affairs of the disadvantaged into consideration too. The obsession with upper- class living will not do until the nation becomes painted in bright healthy colours! This sort of decision is not for the present era; maybe after a couple of more decades.
Yours faithfully,
Deoanand Geer