As a slap to the face of law-abiding citizens of the country, the Minister of Works and Transport, Jack Warner, is playing with serious fire by considering legitimising the illegal PH (private hire) taxis at the expense of those plying a legal, registered and honest trade.
Nothing short of rewarding wrongdoing, this policy will redound to the undermining of the rule of law in the country and will further erode respect for the rules of engagement designed to regulate society for the greater good.Has this minister decided that it is time to do away with Parliament altogether?
What manner of madness is this to invite the law-breakers to justify their illicit behaviour while attempting to change the law to suit the needs of the crime?
Like many of his colleagues, Eon Hewitt, president of the Route 1 Maxi Taxi Association, questioned the need to regularise what was said to be thousands of PH taxi drivers when there was already a system in place.
"Let them go and get licensed, we did it, they could do it too... This is not 'Dudus' country, this is Trinidad and Tobago. If this is the way we going, best we remove the maxi-taxi system and everybody go private," he said.
Linus Philip, president of the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Association, said there were people who were employed but had three and four PH taxis on the road because it was costing them nothing to do so. "Some people choosing to work PH because they don't want to configure to the rules and regulations that's in place when people like us are following it and have been following it for years in order to make a living," he said.
Now where in this is the leadership?
This is a Government elected to office on the people's desire for the rule of law to prevail. This proposal flies in the face of such rule and actually encourages law-breaking and mob behaviour.
The Minister of Works has to stop bullying the politics and the governance of the country with these "off the cuff, government by vapse" ideas and come to the Cabinet, the Parliament and the people with his suggestions and allow the more level-headed in society to weigh in on the issues. The process may appear slow to people of a hasty mind, but it is deliberate for a reason, and as the old people say, "it is better to measure three times and cut once."
Someone needs to remind Minister Warner that rules and laws serve a definite purpose: they guide a society forward, reward the upstanding and the moral at the exclusion of the unethical, and protect the weak from the advantage of dishonourable men. Under the current circumstances we would all do well to emphasise respect for law and social order rather than contribute to its undoing.
His intentions may be good, but his approach is badly flawed. Any attempt to undo the rules and regulations put in place to create order out of social chaos is similar to driving up a down street; nothing but confusion and disorder can come out of that.
Phillip Alexander
Via e-mail