Dear Editor,
With reference to the article on ineffective security at Stabroek Market (SN April 11). The police do sometimes have a presence in such places. But is it managed and supervised properly? Let me illustrate.
On Monday April 8, the day after Mr Pemberton saw the mob attacking the foreigners and the day before his report appeared in SN, I saw no less than 5 (five) traffic policemen in Vlissengen Road near Garnett St waiting to catch vehicles coming out of Garnett St that do not stop at the major road. It does not matter that drivers slow down to a crawl. The letter of the law is applied to charge them and order them to attend magistrates’ court.
An hour later, I saw a car attempting to park on North Road in front of Bourda Market. It nudged a makeshift stand on the road and dislodged the brooms standing there for sale. There ensued a lengthy altercation between driver and vendor that sometimes looked like becoming violent. Both were wrong. Parking there is illegal except for delivery vehicles, which pay a toll to the market, and the vendor should not extend his stall, which he rented inside the market off the road, onto the road. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Such vending and purchasing frequently holds up traffic in North Road.
As usual there was no police at Bourda. They are more frequently seen doing purchasing from their own vehicles. Recently I have observed pairs of traffic police patrolling the city on police bikes. Why is it that they do not do so near the markets and make their presence felt? Is there also some law that prevents traffic police from seeing to safety and security of citizens?
I have asked members of Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) to compile reports of police mismanagement that contribute to chaos. Members of the public are invited to do the same with places, dates, times and witnesses and submit to infotransparencygy@gmail.com. Our taxes fund the police and we ought to see we get good value.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai
TIGI Director