The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) is extraordinarily insensitive to the plight of poor people. Last week they prohibited fishermen from using docking areas at Hope Canal, without giving the poor fishermen any option. Last week, some hard-working people from South Georgetown were given a two-week notice to remove themselves and their livestock or the APNU/AFC City Government would remove the livestock to the slaughter house. These stories are happening on a daily basis. APNU/AFC’s coldness resembles absolutely the behaviour and attitude of dictators. As people’s lives become more depressing, more and more of the APNU/AFC leaders claim the Guyanese people are enjoying the “good life” like never before.
It is in this vein that even the talk of road tolls causes such anxiety among people. Road tolls are something a large section of the Guyanese people remember with a hefty dose of anxiety and ugly memories of political vindictiveness. The people of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) know that road tolls were used to punish them politically because they refused to support Forbes Burnham and the People’s National Congress (PNC) through the 1960s and until 1992. While road tolls are internationally used to generate revenues to support maintenance of roads, in Guyana, a large section of the population experienced the spiteful use of road tolls to politically discriminate against them. Travelling across Region Six and other parts of Guyana last week, I was amazed how quickly, the potential return of road tolls became a major discourse, particularly under the bottom houses in Region Six.
Why has this ugly and vile practice of road tolls as a political weapon risen again among citizens? Infrastructure Minister David Patterson last week signalled the intention of the APNU/AFC Administration to introduce road tolls in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). This announcement immediately made many of us wonder if APNU/AFC has intentions of re-introducing tolls on the East Berbice Highway. In fact, after increasing or introducing new taxes in more than 200 categories in just over two years of being in Government and encouraging parking meters in Georgetown, I am almost certain that this Government has every intention of introducing tolls on highways across Guyana. The announcement of tolls for Region Seven is just testing the waters for the introduction of road tolls. This tax and spend Government is determined to suck every cent they can from the Guyanese people.
It should not shock anyone that APNU/AFC is signalling its thinking about tolls to support its brazen tax and spend propensity. After all, APNU/AFC comes out of the belly of the People’s National Congress (PNC). The PNC’s DNA and, therefore, that of APNU/AFC, includes a hefty reliance on schemes such as road tolls to raise money, but most worrying is that it is a political force that uses road tolls as a political weapon. The citizens of Region Six will never forget the brazen and reprehensible targeting of that region for the use of road tolls to punish people for their political alignment.
People my age will remember that the East Berbice Highway had three toll gates – at Number 19 Village, Adventure and at Number 63 Village. The only highway that had multiple tolls was the East Berbice Highway. The reason was obvious – the people of East Berbice were overwhelmingly opposed to the PNC. The PNC wielded but its main purpose was political vendetta against the citizens of Region Six for their overwhelmingly solid opposition to the PNC. For almost 20 years, those toll gates stood as a symbol of the political spitefulness of the PNC. Cheddi Jagan and the People’s Progressive Party had promised that they would abolish tolls on the East Berbice Highway. The Hoyte Administration in preparation for the first free and fair election in independent Guyana gave in to pressure and abolished the tolls in 1992, just before the elections.
In May 2015, I warned that road tolls will be re-introduced and used selectively as a political weapon. The possible introduction of road tolls in Region Seven, as announced by Minister Patterson, will be followed by introduction of other road tolls and the East Berbice Highway will be a priority for the introduction of road tolls. I suspect that the West Demerara and Essequibo Roads will also be subjected to tolls. I hope that if this is just wild speculation that the Minister will immediately dismiss the possibility that he and his Government has any intention to introduce tolls on our roads.
