By Shemar Alleyne
As the carnage continues on Guyana’s roadways, Retired Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Slowe has called on the Ali-led Administration to address the elephant in the room and expeditiously solve the situation.
Last week, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) revealed that 137 persons lost their lives in road accidents and incidents between January 1 and August 31.
“What is even more worrying to me is the response from the authorities. People are dying like flies, as they would say,” Slowe said on his weekly programme, ‘speaking out, exposing corruption and incompetence.’
“Fatal road accidents are very, very alarming. The authorities, for some reason, don’t want to admit […] they are in a state of denial.”
Road accidents and incidents continue to be the order of the day in Guyana. In fact, today, we reported two motorcyclists who lost their lives on the country’s roadways.
The retired Assistant Police Commissioner noted that the authorities need to have a holistic plan in place rather than their usual campaigns, which fade away in weeks.
Instead, he noted, among other things, that the “traffic situation should be declared a national public health emergency” while the Force has a “comprehensive review of the road safety system.”
“You are trying to change a lawlessness on the road. Therefore, your government has to have a proper comprehensive plan to address it, and as we said, they are not addressing the elephant in the room, and the elephant in the room is corruption – the big C,” Slowe remarked.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Works Juan Eghill, in a statement on Monday, said he joins President Irfaan Ali and Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn in urging the Police to launch an expansive road safety campaign throughout the country to tackle the root causes of this problem.
