Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed yesterday accused the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) of deliberately delaying the renewal of his captain’s licence, saying that two weeks had passed since he submitted all the required documents.
Mohamed and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) parliamentarian Odessa Primus visited MARAD’s office seeking an update on the application, according to a video posted by the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.
Mohamed said that he had held a captain’s licence since 2012 and applied for its renewal on August 28.
He said his application was accompanied by his previous licence, certificates, birth certificate, identification card, passport-sized photographs, a recommendation from another captain and medical reports covering his vision and hearing.
“Everything was above board. My vision is intact. I can hear well,” Mohamed said, adding that all the requested documentation had been submitted.
He said that other captains who submitted applications on the same day, and in some cases after him, had already received their licences. According to Mohamed, the process would ordinarily take between three and four days.
“That is just to show you that under this wicked and spiteful administration, we are living like prisoners and second-class citizens in our own country,” he charged.
Mohamed also wondered that if his driver’s licence had expired would face similar difficulties when seeking its renewal.
“How can we operate like that in this country? How can we operate like this in our country as a citizen of this country, as a Guyanese-born?” he asked.
The licence issue arose days after Mohamed was detained in connection with a go-fast boat belonging to him. Kiskadee Watch had reported that the vessel was intercepted on August 25 at a wharf at Friendship, East Bank Demerara, after Mohamed and several opposition parliamentarians returned from an outreach to Region One, where they had met relatives and survivors of the MV Barima tragedy.
The vessel was searched and taken to the Coast Guard headquarters, while Mohamed was detained and subsequently released on $100,000 station bail. MARAD later said its records showed that neither the vessel nor Mohamed was licensed or otherwise authorised to operate it. WIN disputed the suggestion that Mohamed had been operating the boat.
Mohamed’s account that he applied to renew his captain’s licence on August 28 would place the application three days after that incident.
Primus said they had been unable to obtain an update from MARAD Director General Captain Stephen Thomas. She said that Thomas did not meet with them but sent his secretary to say that no information was available on the application.
She described the situation as “utter nonsense”, contending that Mohamed was entitled to have his documents processed in the ordinary course.
Primus said Mohamed was attempting to comply with the law and required the licence to continue travelling by water to conduct his work across the country.
“We are trying to be compliant, and we want compliance,” she said. “They must ensure that we receive the captain’s licence because we already submitted all that we have to submit.”
She added that Mohamed would now be taking a “special interest” in MARAD and that the opposition intended to make regular visits and highlight what it considered deficiencies at the agency.
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