That deadly East Bank accident and the Presidential convoy

Dear Editor,

I wish to thank the Kaieteur News for publishing my October 14th letter in which I dealt with the large amount of Police resources being employed to shield President Granger from embarrassment, much to the detriment of ordinary citizens who are left at the mercy of blood-thirsty criminals.

In light of the gruesome accident in which a Guyana Police Force vehicle that is used to clear traffic for the Presidential convoy, collided with a civilian driven vehicle causing the death of five persons, I’m compelled to highlight another aspect of the misuse of valuable state resources.

Editor, the official residence of the President is at State House on Main Street in Georgetown. Mr Granger however, resides at his Pearl, East Bank Demerara home but conducts the business of the state at State House so he has to traverse between the two locations daily. This means that Granger’s large convoy of vehicles and police ranks have to go back and forth between these two locations daily. This comes at a great inconvenience to both citizens and the police ranks as the roads have to be cleared, ranks placed at almost every intersection along the route, etc. These over-worked police ranks have to travel to Pearl from as early as 4 am in the morning to escort President Granger down then take him up back at nights.

As I outlined in my pervious letter, vast amounts of police resources are devoted to ‘securing’ the President. By the government’s own admission some 140 ranks (4% of the Guyana Police Force) were deployed at Corneila Ida over the weekend, so one can only image the size of Granger’s convoy. In fact you don’t have to imagine – it is very large as whereas his predecessors used 2 to 3 vehicles, Granger’s entourage has around 9, along with several motorcycle outriders. And it is not just the President as even Ministers now travel in convoys with vehicles equipped with sirens and security features (costing us taxpayers some $17M), often causing huge discomfort to the traveling public.
So, though accidents are unfortunate and I don’t wish to put the blame on anyone, for me it was inevitable that an incident of this magnitude would’ve happened given all that I’ve outlined above.

The final point I wish to make is whether or not it is prudent for Mr Granger to traverse daily between State House and his Pearl residence given the vast sums and human resources that have to be expended and given the likelihood of a reoccurrence of today’s deadly accident involving a vehicle that clears the way for his convoy.
I’m sure President Granger is not “unbothered” by the death of those five persons.

Yours faithfully
Anson Paul