So it seems that we may be on the verge of a Code of Conduct for the minibus industry which, if it can be suitably crafted and effectively implemented (and those are big if’s) can go a far way in raising standards of public order and significantly improving customer service in one of the most important enterprises in the service sector. Minibuses not only provide a relatively efficient public transport service for thousands of Guyanese – workers and schoolchildren, particularly – across the country but also provide regular income and employment for various categories of persons – owners, drivers, conductors, spare parts dealers, touts and mechanics, among others. As a contributor to the welfare and well-being of Guyanese, the role of the minibus service can hardly be overstated. Of course, all of this is attended by a considerable downside which is largely why the need for a Code of Conduct has arisen in the first place.
But it is in the issues of the completeness of a Code of Conduct, how effectively it covers the various areas that are in need of regulation and – perhaps above all else, how effectively it can be implemented that the real challenge reposes. Before that, there is the consideration of how quickly we are going to see a Code of Conduct come into force in the first place, given what is known to be the painful prevarication of the authorities (and in this instance it appears that the principals are the Ministry of Business and the union representing the sector) in bringing these matters to finality. Contextually, little else can be said on the matter of effective implementation until after the final document materializes and has secured the endorsement of all sides – government, owners, drivers and conductors, commuters and the police – and has undergone some sort of rigorous implementation test to the general satisfaction of the parties.
What, above everything else, makes an enforceable Code of Conduct for the sector important is what we all know could be its enormous contribution to raising standards of public order and generally improving the country’s public transport system. After all, most of us, in one way or another, have our daily lives affected by minibuses not just a passengers but also as sharers of the same space on the roads. So that a Code of Conduct for minibus operators is a matter that goes beyond the interest of the service providers and users, embracing a much broader ‘audience.’
Experience has of course taught us the invaluable lesson that the proof of the pudding is in the eating so that we are only too well aware that unless the actual rules are buttressed by the requisite safeguards the Code itself can become discredited and disregarded particularly if it is found to be a matter of inconvenience to those whose interests might, in one way or another, be injured by some or all of the provisions of the Code. Here it is apposite to note that some minibus operators (drivers, conductors and touts) have, by their modus operandi, demonstrated a preference for various forms of deviant even illegal behaviour and on the whole, have proven themselves to be altogether indifferent to considerations of good customer service and basic decency to say nothing about matters of lawfulness. In other words, insofar as the effectiveness of the Code is concerned, one of the major challenges will be that of self-regulation.
But then there are those who may argue that there is always the safety net of enforcement and that, of course, raises the broader issue of the Police Traffic Department and traffic management. So that leaving aside the fanfare that might attend the substantive promulgation of a Code of Conduct for minibus operators another real challenge will repose in the preparedness, or lack thereof, of the police to ensure effective enforcement. This is not a consideration that can be taken lightly not only because the Police Traffic Department is bound to be a principal player in administering the enforcement of the Code but perhaps, more importantly, because, historically, it has been, in large measure, the corrupt relationship between elements in the Force and minibus operators that has given rise to the need for measures to rein in the lawlessness that now obtains. Put differently, insofar as there continues to be large pockets of corrupt relationships between minibus operators and law enforcement officers, the Code itself will be a non-starter.
The collective challenge that the Ministry of Business, the minibus operators and the Police Traffic Department and commuters have, is that at arriving quickly at a junction of common agreement on the provisions of the Code. It is either that or have a situation in which whatever materializes becomes buried beneath a mound of disagreement, attendant controversy and protracted chatter that goes nowhere. If this is to be avoided the stakeholders must be mindful not only of the dangers associated with protracted delays in the promulgation of the Code, now that we are told that its advent could be imminent, but also of the failure to put in place those support mechanisms that will be essential for its effective implementation. As a nation we have, over time, become far too steeped in making premature noises over half-baked initiatives only to find ourselves making pointless hindsight noises about what ought to have been taken into consideration that had been overlooked in the first place.
In sum, it is worth saying that if a Code of Conduct is to be effectively applied and not end up being no more than mere window dressing, it must pass the acid tests of, first, the voluntary preparedness of minibus operators (or at least the considerable majority of them) to embrace and wholeheartedly implement the Code and secondly the preparedness of the Police Traffic Department – or more specifically, corrupt policemen, to subsume their illegal practices beneath what we customarily describe as ‘greater good.’ Neither of these will come without some form of pushback from those operators and policemen who are likely to put personal gain and personal preferences first. This is precisely why much is likely to turn on consumer preparedness to play their part in the effective enforcement of the Code.
