Dear Editor,
Attn: COP/GRA Commissioner/Min. Benn
I, Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan consider this matter to be of great importance to Guyana, to the saving of lives and to the creation of a new era of driving standards and traffic control in this nation. I selected this caption particularly to capture the audience, more importantly the persons named above including the president, the Vice President, our Cabinet and all decent law-abiding citizens of this country.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen with eyes to hear and ears to see (these words are intentional for action). Let me start by saying the most famous driving school ever in Guyana was RK’s Institute of Motoring — after decades I had to suspend the business and I will tell you why. Ninety per cent of the students wanted us to get their licence for them, as freelancers were doing by wildcat instructing and corrupted alliances allegedly with various police officers involved in the issuance of licences and tests and at times with or without GRA conspirators.

At the GRA, up to three years ago, corrupted personnel were allegedly charging $40,000 and now it is $60,000 in 2022 or the police allegedly charges about the same, to pass you and give you the certificate to go to the GRA.

The alleged corrupt persons, the purchasers of the driver’s licence know that the licence will be ineffective in three years, they told me.

Those who have done this, told me and they laughed about it. This is prevalent with minibuses, private cars, and for addition of motor lorries or a motorcycle it’s $20,000. It is a whole nasty industry of thievery and deceit.

Many of the students were willing to pay the driving school fees to learn proper driving and to pay the corrupt transaction to acquire the licence easily. RK has a name behind it and we cannot succumb to such desperate behaviour to tarnish our name, our persona, our dignity and honour.

In the National Commission of Law and Order I raised this matter and then Minister Rohee was taken aback, to understand how endemic the thievery and deception was and still is. Most of the persons who are involved in nasty accidents never attended a driving school, they acquired their licences by deceit and dishonesty and I hold the various testing stations in Guyana the officers responsible.

Recently, on the East Coast of Demerara, one of my drivers wanted a lorry licence added to his car licence and was told $40,000, another wanted a motorcycle licence added and was told $20,000; I even raised this with a traffic Chief.

I think Senior Police Officers are overwhelmed with the corruption, deceit and thievery which is endemic in Guyana and the Guyana Police Force in particular.  Citizens’ lives and family’s lives are endangered as we have one of the most atrocious traffic situations in the Caribbean. I am laughing as I am writing Mr. Editor. I will not mention the name of the senior officer who created the worst madness in acquiring a licence because he is a gentleman and usually an excellent police administrator and law enforcer.

This senior officer, according to my information and investigation, at the whim of his tongue changed the entire system of theory education, theory tests and has created a platform of absolute corruption and madness.

It might appear studying and testing on a website would control corruption. But haha! It would lead to more corruption as there would be fake tests and police officers would end up doing the tests during regular hours or after hours. As they always have facilities to find keys or make copies of keys.  I know for a fact that driver’s licences are delivered to persons homes even though these persons would have never been present at a testing site. This I know!

For any officer to make such changes at his own behest without consultation with stakeholders and possibly without approval from the minister and involving the police administration, in my opinion, is unacceptable.

It is like taking by the throats or the noses of persons who are driving donkey carts, fish venders, school dropouts, cane cutters, etc… and flinging them into the world of technology, when some of them have never even touched a computer. They might not even understand websites and to throw them into that world as if they are all technically inclined is painful to think of.

I know in the past with the regular system we had there were some people who could not read and write but they understood the basic care, courtesy and caution of driving but they were lacking the capacity to read and write. There was a system and I pray that system was and still is in place up to recent times, if not it could and should be resuscitated with immediate effect.

To take those persons and put them to study the theory on a website and to print from a website will just send them mad. Persons operating Internet Cafes, etc…, they will bleed the poor people. I mean the poorest people of their monies to print and to study with them and what will happen when it is time to do the test?

At this juncture these poor people will be forced to fork out between $60,000- $100,000 and even more for some policemen to do the test for them in secret and see to it that they get the certificate for licence or GRA, a similar amount for three years, all without any theory and practical driving education.

I have made my points! I know this letter will draw much attention especially if the editors use my caption and I hope that all the newspapers print this letter, of course I will vociferously deal with it on the RK’s “In the Raw/ RK’s Guyana Free” Media.

Sincerely,
Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan Snr.
In the Raw/ RK’s Guyana Free