The streets surrounding the Ministry of the Presidency (MotP) are crucial pathways for commuters who either work in the vicinity to traverse authorised bus routes and/or to access to reach other destinations, including schools. Those who reside within that area and who must use those streets on a daily basis, know how important it is for them to remain open to ease the challenges of the heavy and slothful traffic.
When those streets are closed, time spent in traffic to manoeuvre along alternative routes increases. Very often, that results in late attendance to work, school or fixed appointments. This was evident on Tuesday as many Guyanese were severely inconvenienced as a result of all access roads— east, west, north and south of the MotP— being blocked and manned by heavy Police presence.
The reason for shutting them down was to insulate a Cabinet meeting from protesters. Aside from the Cabinet being unconstitutional following the expiration of the legal timeframe for elections to be held, the overwhelming number of barricades erected were simply to prevent citizens from their constitutional right to peaceful protests and freedom of access. There was no national emergency that necessitated such actions. That point must not be taken for granted.
Having blatantly disrespected the Constitution, thereby plunging the country into an unnecessary and seemingly deliberate constitutional dilemma, the President, and his now unconstitutional APNU/AFC coalition government, are using the Police to shield them from facing citizens who are demanding that the rule of law be restored.
In other words, the Police, which the populace emphatically believes must be engaged in combating the ongoing crime spate, are being used by the President to inflict grave inconvenience on Guyanese; Guyanese the APNU/AFC coalition claims it cares about.
To make matters worse, it wasn’t just an exercise to prevent vehicles from getting anywhere close to the already fortified MotP, but pedestrians as well. Both, who work in establishments within the area and those who must traverse for reasons alluded to, were reportedly denied access at all points.
Reportedly, also, workers and vehicles from entities within and even from the MotP, were forced to prove such status and searched and patted before being allowed through.
It is believed that in addition to the stringent vetting process to authenticate those who needed to be allowed through, the Police were reportedly searching for placards which they believe might have been hidden on persons or in their bags. If that indeed occurred, then it speaks to a growing sense of paranoia and desperation on the part of the President and his coalition to not be called out for disrespecting the country’s Constitution.
Images of the barricades went viral, including one that showed a vital footbridge being blocked. Many ordinary Guyanese from within that area and who walk to their daily destinations were forced to walk much longer distances in scorching heat. In addition, those who use public transportation or being dropped off, were also subjected to an arduous walk since the vehicles could not ply their normal route.
This wanton inconsideration was repeated yesterday as streets in the vicinity of State House were lockdown to facilitate the President opening a conference there. Once again, travel woes in an already congested City were compounded in a main commercial zone. Once again, such inconvenience was foisted upon the citizens. Once again, the President shielded himself from facing his fellow Guyanese.
This underscores the strong belief that the President and his coalition did not, even for a moment, consider the challenges which were imposed on commuters when the roads are blocked. From all reports, it appears the public was not notified in advance of such blockage so at the least, they could have been afforded the opportunity to prepare, psychologically perhaps, for the gross inconvenience.
Such inconsideration on the part of the authority speaks to a selfish act at the expense of the taxpaying public. Apart from the Police seemingly being instructed to cordon off roadways in areas where the President would be present to prevent him from being protested against, the extensive blocking of the City streets on Tuesday last, brings into relevance the millions of taxpayers’ money spent to construct high, thick and solid walls around the MotP.
With such massive fortification, one would expect that the intention in the first place was to allow him to be alienated from the citizenry. Should that project now be considered a waste of valuable taxpayers’ money given that more has to be spent to sustain the Police’s presence?
The President seems mortified at the thought of being protested. He seemed visibly shaken during the Pegasus protest and is ramping up efforts to insulate himself. There is an old adage: “do nothing; fear nothing”. Surely, Mr Granger, with rational thinking, cannot be oblivious as to why he is being greeted by protesters during visits to various places across the country.
Had he not done the deed of disrespecting the Constitution, there would have been no need in the current context for him to overly shield himself from protesters and, in the process, impose unnecessarily inconvenience on the citizenry whose vote he will soon solicit.
