By Tracey Khan – Drakes
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee has called on Supervisors and Junior Traffic Ranks of the Guyana Police Force to desist from carrying out the illegal function of collecting bribes along the country’s roadways.
Rohee described the ranks as “Travelling Magistrates” even as he urged greater compliance to prevention and enforcement activities.
He noted that the IPAIDABRIBE.GY website has listed the Guyana Police Force, Traffic Department as the Government agency which accepts the most bride. The Minister sternly urged ranks, engaged in the practice of accepting bribes, to discontinue the practice and called on senior ranks to ensure it is rooted out from among their subordinates.
The Minister made this call today (June, 26, while addressing the opening ceremony of the 25th Junior Officers Course at the Force Headquarters Eve Leary in Georgetown and also said there is a need for more action to be taken to address the management of Traffic on the roads.
He also raised concerns about the number of road accidents and suggested a combination of enforcement and education as the hallmark of the force’s strategies to reduce these accidents.
Rohee said however the situation is not alarming while admitting that each life lost, results in a reduction of human capital and a higher cost to the economy.
He also pointed to the recent Coretyne accident where one family lost three young girls at the hands of a drunk driver.
According to the Police a total of 28 road fatalities from 26 accidents have been recorded at the end of March 2014. The figures were the same for the comparative period in 2013.
According to the statistics, pedestrians have been the main road users affected with 11 such persons having lost their lives at the end of March 2014. In addition six motor cyclists, five pedal cyclists, one driver and five passengers of motor vehicles also lost their lives.
Speeding continues to be a major contributing factor to fatal accidents and was the cause of 17 of the 26 fatal accidents recorded at the end of March 2014.
Traffic enforcement by the police has resulted in a total of 20,112 cases being made against errant motorists unto the end of March 2014; of this total, 4,965 cases were for speeding.
i love ur comment, that’s just what is going thru my head. Minister Rohee trying but them hooligans won’t stop bec u know y? they r equivalent to dogs. They knew what would be their salary before they signed up for the job so that’s not an excuse CAR.
Too little too late, Mr. Rohee. Do you know how many residents have fallen victim to that crime, including my son, and he was victimized twice. And no one wanted to hear or even acknowledge the complaint. We hear cries of cops being paid low wages, and they do, (a cop in Guyana makes in month what a cop in NYC makes in a day) and that might be the reason. However, I believe all law enforcement are trained to uphold the law. Therefore, if on the law books bribery is an offense punishable by fines and or jail time, then these Guys need to understand that there will be consequences,if caught. The question is, who’ll punish them? since some of their Superiors are also on the take. SHAME AND DISGRACE!