MINIBUS operators at the Route 40 bus park contend that because certain police constables are enmeshed in bribery and corruption with hotplate buses, those buses can stop in the presence of the police and pick up passengers in a no-stopping zone.

The complaining operators said they had carried their complaints to a senior police officer in the GPF and had been told they should buy pit bull buses (the latest model) and do likewise. They say they are reluctant to report incidence of bribery between the police and minibus operators because they fear being targeted by the police; but despite the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Traffic Department visiting the park over the last 10 years, nothing is being done to combat the lawlessness and corruption that exist there.

They argue that these hotplate operators who blatantly breach traffic laws ignore the line system at the park, thereby putting pressure on those in the line. “Some of us come out on the road at six o’clock in the morning and only make two trips by midday, and the hotplate buses come and make six to seven trips by lunch time. We are the ones suffering, because when you are in the line you have to wait till them buses done load on the plate so that you can get one and two passengers.

“At the end of the day, we only working to pay expenses, cause them bus come and load on the stopping and the police ain’t tell them nothing,” one minibus driver told this newspaper.

Guyana Chronicle had made several attempts to contact the Police Traffic Officer, Superintendent Hugh Denhert, but was told he was unavailable.

The operators claim that the police involved in bribery take bribes with callous indifference to their jobs. “I personally have seen a driver roll up money and toss it in a police car. They put aside a stash just in case a police pull up next to them,” one operator said.

“Some ah them stop right in front the police and they just load the bus and go along their way,” minibus owner Hassan De Groot, said.

“De hotplate bus is de bus that does throw de police box. When de minibus come pon de plate, de police does move,” another operator complained, saying that even though buses load on the hotplate all day, it usually gets worse in the afternoon, when workers are going home and children are leaving school. He said the offending buses usually cause congestion at the park.

Ramesh Ross, a driver who had been working the Kitty/ Campbellville route for over five years, said that at around 06:00hrs, the hotplate buses would line up on the ‘no stopping’ zone in front of the police outpost, “and the police would just watch the buses load.

“It’s marked ‘no stopping’ for a reason. This system isn’t working, because those who are toeing the line are being boxed in, since we can’t do anything.

“The lawless and the police are working in collaboration, and they [the police] are taking pay openly. We need senior police to monitor this situation. We need police to police the police, if you know what I mean. They must be willing to put the bangles on their colleges. We don’t want to hear about them doing things; we want to see it being done. There must be a permanent police outpost till this situation is resolved.

“The police need to arrest some constables and it gon stop, or it gon ease,” another driver ventured.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Home Affairs introduced a new system, called ‘I paid a bribe.’ The website was initiated to allow persons to report incidents of paying bribe to workers at government agencies. The scheme was introduced by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and Information Technology Specialist Floyd Levi. The persons reporting bribery are not allowed to name the person involved, but only the department the bribe was paid to and the amount given.

The ‘I paid a bribe’ system was also introduced in other countries to fight corruption.