THE P S V TRAGEDY

Mr Morris Lee, President of the ‘Association of Public Transport Operators’ (APTO) has declared that Barbados’ public service vehicle industry is in a state of "crisis", while Ms Judy Forde, Vice President of APTO is lamenting that the current governmental administration has shown no interest in even having a meeting to discuss the many critical issues facing the industry!
None of this surprises us in the ‘Peoples Empowerment Party’ (PEP)! The sad reality is that the established black political class of Barbados is dominated by persons who exhibit deeply rooted psychological deformities that have seemingly rendered them incapable of reaching out to and supporting and nurturing aspiring black Barbadian businesspeople.
The PEP states, without fear of contradiction, that no group of white, Indian or Syrian business people in Barbados would have any problem whatsoever in securing a meeting with Government to discuss their problems. But the vast majority of public service vehicle operators are native black Barbadians, and are therefore not so fortunate!
Our party invites Mr Lee, Ms Forde and the thousands of public service vehicle owners and operators to take careful note of the PEP’s policy on the public service vehicle industry, as expressed in our 2008 General Election Manifesto:-
"Rather than continuing to treat public service vehicle operators as renegades and criminals, we will work with them, and hold out the promise of bringing dignity, commercial success, professionalism and respectability to this largely black owned business sector. PSV drivers and conductors will be given special training and certification; their bus stands will be upgraded and transformed into places of dignity and comfort; and the punitive taxes and other impositions will be removed."
When the PEP published that policy in our Manifesto we were not engaging in facile electioneering; we were not making insincere promises for the purpose of attracting a few votes. On the contrary, we meant exactly what we said! Indeed, that policy is the natural product of a general philosophy of society and governance which we adhere to in the PEP!
As far as we are concerned, in a society that experienced 330 years of anti-black slavery and serfdom, and the associated use of the instruments of state power to restrict the development of blacks, a popularly elected, democratic government has a duty to use the power of government to secure the advancement and commercial success of legitimate aspiring small black entrepreneurs!
Historically, one of the few areas of the commercial life of Barbados that ‘blacks’ were able to take control of, was the sphere of public transportation. It should therefore have been clear to successive Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) governments that this was an ideal sector to target for development and upliftment.
Successive BLP and DLP administrations should have focussed on making the public transportation sector a towering and shining example of ‘black’ professionalism and business success!
They should have set about to "professionalize" the industry by putting in place compulsory state run training and certification programmes for the drivers and conductors of public service vehicles. On a daily basis, public service vehicle operators are responsible for the lives and well being of hundreds of human beings. These operators are therefore entrusted with extremely important and responsible functions, and should be trained appropriately. Furthermore, the professional certification they receive in Barbados should be of such a standard that it would be recognised and accepted internationally.
In addition, successive administrators should have virtually guaranteed the commercial success of these aspiring entrepreneurs by keeping taxes and duties to levels that are low enough to ensure commercial viability! Instead, our governments, have done the very opposite by punishing PSV owners with excessive taxes and duties!
Our political misleaders have taken a sector that had the potential to make an extremely positive and invaluable contribution to Barbadian society, and have turned it into an arena of decadence and outlawry. Truly, where there is no vision the people perish!