Shuttle-taxi drivers victimised
THE Jamaica Labour Party’s annual conference 2010 has come and gone. Bruce Golding made an excellent speech, almost Michael Manley-style and he spoke about the integrity and campaign money legislation to come. But there was nothing in his nice, pretty speech for the oppressed, such as the independent transport operators, street-side vendors, security guards and domestic helpers.
The oppressed transport operators and vendors are on my mind this week, because once again, I have witnessed the oppressive hand of agents of the state against them. The Opposition People’s National Party, when in government, did not adequately address these matters either. I suspect that when they set up Jamaica Urban Transport Corporation, they thought that they could adequately serve the commuters in the Kingston Metropolitan Region in the same way that the former Jamaica Omnibus Service did.
Many wonder why the police target the “robots” and the “higglers” rather than hardened criminals accused of robbery and murder. The public perception is that some police do not want any competition to the illegal shuttle taxis that they own “on the side”. Also, when they arrest criminals the police have no bribes to collect or at least cannot collect bribes so easily.
It does appear that police who are assigned to the traffic division have received the “plum” assignments if you were to consider opportunities for bribery.
And every time the fines for speeding and dangerous driving are increased, some police personnel are said to increase their bribery fee. It is not easy to stamp out corruption in Jamaica because of our history of piracy that goes back to Henry Morgan. Neither was it easy to stamp out corruption in Jerusalem at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.
We are now a month away from Christmas and the mainline Christian churches move into the season of Advent on Sunday. Advent is that four-week period before Christmas when the church recalls the sinful world into which Jesus Christ was born which was the reason God became flesh. Just as in the period of Lent before Good Friday, the church asks us to recall our own sinfulness and to confess our sins during the coming period.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, King Herod ordered the killing of all first-born sons when he heard that a king was to be born. Every time I see roadside vendors run because of police I recall the agony and pain of parents as recorded in the Bible when Herod’s soldiers raided homes for first-born sons. And the way in which the taxi-operators (legal and illegal) are treated by the police causes me to recall the same scene in the gospels.
In the 1600s Henry Morgan was made governor of Jamaica to control piracy. And Morgan did that by selling land at cheap rates to the pirates who then became Jamaica’s aristocracy. From that day onwards corruption has been a problem in Jamaica. There are many who disagree with me because criminals settled Australia and that country does not have similar problems with corruption. But at no time did criminals govern Australia. It was their much better-bred descendants who got that opportunity.
The JUTC by law has a monopoly in the Kingston metropolitan region. But the law as it stands should neither be an excuse for police brutality or for the oppressive measures taken. I am well aware that the present government did not make the public transport laws that give JUTC the monopoly. But that particular law needs to be seriously modified so that Jamaicans can get to their work and go home without the inconvenience of a police operation delaying the process.
The JUTC cannot handle the total transportation needs of commuters in the Kingston Metropolitan Area. The taxis and “robots” are a big help, yet they are being treated badly. It is really a sin to treat them in this way. It is a sin because this is perhaps the only way that “robot” or “shuttle taxi” operators can earn money to provide for their children.
And it is a sin because many times police do not bring anyone to book but simply take bribes. How do the domestic helpers of ministers of government get to work for their employers who live in areas not serviced by JUTC buses? Although the JUTC has its own staff buses, apparently they do not operate at crucial times as many JUTC workers also take the robots.
I argue as I have done before that a way should be found to legalise the robots. They provide a service that facilitates production in Jamaica which therefore helps the overall economy. But the “robot” operators themselves need to act as one united force. This is the only way to get legal status. And there needs to be more market space for vendors so that they have no excuse to be on the streets.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com