A strike by speedboat operators crossing the Demerara River started on Friday December 9th as part of their long running demands for a price increase on the $100 fare frozen for eight years.
The government’s response was to fly into full emergency mode calling out the Coast Guard to shuttle passengers across the river; allowing a private security service to run its boat along with obviously operators from Parika; and marshalling GDF buses to take commuters to and fro. The operators held out for a day or two from this government led onslaught but soon folded when on Sunday evening they met with the President himself at the place of his choosing – not the derelict Vreed en Hoop stelling – and agreed to keep the fare at the current rate. Another crisis averted and all’s well that ends well.
Not so fast.
This moment encompasses all the historical blunders and neglect by various governments, along with a current approach to “crises” that is heavy-handed and ad hoc.
The emergence of private speedboat operators came about with the decline and discontinuation of the ferry service in the early 2000s. Not so old folks wax nostalgic about the ferry days – the Lady Northcote, the Queriman, the Malali, the Makouria, the Torani the Lukanani and the Hassar. So many vessels. Some are old enough to remember the West Coast train which was a short walk from the ferry – a seamless transition from one form of public transportation to another on the way to the city.
Fast forward to present day and we have a situation where around 50 private speed operators now ply the Demerara, taking off around 15% of the estimated 68,000 commuters who need to get across the river each day, while the bridge struggles to handle around 13,000 motor vehicles.
This number has grown significantly in the past two decades, primarily from the housing drive instituted by PPP/C governments pre-2015. Tuschen has gone from a medium-sized village to a scheme with over 6000 houses. Parfaite Harmonie on the West Bank Demerara also has a sizable population. Region Three is one of the few rural regions that has seen population growth – from 95,975 in 1991 to 107,416 in 2012. We can only imagine what it will be in the 2022 census. Furthermore there have been few economic opportunities in the region so many residents still must continue to commute to town. The government has done almost nothing to accommodate this massive growth in commuters. This shows a lack of understanding of the most basic urban planning.
And while we await the New Demerara Harbour Bridge (NDHB) which is unlikely to be finished in the two years the government has pledged as a deadline, vehicle numbers on the current bridge will grow by at least the 5% per annum forecast in the 2017 feasibility study for the NDHB. The reason being this was an estimate prior to the new power plant at Wales, the pipeline activity and the Vreed en Hoop shorebase.
As we have seen as far back as 1988, the smallest disruption to the bridge, be it a breakdown of a truck or some technical issue or worse a barge or boat colliding with it creates mayhem. It is the butterfly flapping its wings. The most recent three-day bridge breakdown saw a bread shortage on the West Coast. Without a ferry, it is at these times the speedboat operators alone provide what is an essential service. And they have a remarkable safety record over the years with very few fatalities or accidents. They should be commended for this and for enforcing life belt regulations.
The fare has been $100 for at least eight years. Are we to believe their costs for fuel, spare parts or boat repairs have remained static all that time? Of course not and we must remember these are workers with families. Have not the prices for their children’s school books, food, rent a mother’s medication – practically everything – more than doubled during that time? Why is the government so keen to control what they charge when they do nothing to stop vendors selling pumpkin at $800 a lb? This is the free market! And when we look at the recent wage increases in the health sector, which are a commendable first start, is this not an explicit acknowledgment that their salaries were woefully short of meeting the cost of living? So how come the speedboat operators are forced to live on an income frozen for eight years?
There are other troubling aspects of the government’s approach to the strike. The use of military personnel and equipment for civilian purposes should not be taken lightly. Also the deployment of a private security service and boats from Parika is a disappointing example of crossing what is effectively a picket line. It demonstrates how far from the historical solidarity for working class causes this country has strayed. In the past they would have been denounced as scabs. Instead government media and their allied cheerleading newsrooms described them as saviours.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill has ordained himself a Cabinet “strong man” like his predecessor Benn. We saw it with the boat mishap and the bridge only for him to be schooled by the lawyers on maritime law. And we saw it this week in his actions against city vendors for which he appears to have no authority. Aside from that, his warning back in June about removing roadside encumbrances has proven to be pure bluster.
In the end it took a meeting with the President who seems to think he can fix the problems of this country with 1001 personal interventions. One senses genuine concern but he is just one man and that’s not how countries are supposed to function. They work through strong laws and well-funded and managed institutions. We do not know what he whispered in the operators’ ears while they posed, all smiles, for a photo shoot. Apparently they will get better infrastructure but certain hints suggest they will, in time, get their increase which is still inadequate.
Finally in their abdication of duty to provide safe and efficient public transportation across the Demerara, how does the government have the moral right to decide how much these entrepreneurs should make? And how can that be a role for MARAD, a maritime regulatory body primarily entrusted with the safety and order of shipping?
These are hardworking and skilled mariners who deserve more and it is hoped that even if the government doesn’t want to give them more, commuters in this Christmas season might open their eyes to the welfare of their fellow Guyanese.
