Dear Editor,
As one moves around Georgetown and the East Bank of Demerara, it is impossible not to notice the growing network of surveillance cameras positioned at almost every corner. At the same time, it is equally difficult to ignore the fact that the number of functioning traffic lights across the city and along the highways could likely be counted on ten fingers.
This contrast is extraordinarily revealing. The Government appears to have invested far more in its capacity to watch citizens than in the basic infrastructure required to help us move safely, predictably and efficiently along our increasingly dangerous roadways. Such a disparity in priorities suggests an administration that is more preoccupied with monitoring and control than with public safety and competent public administration.
There is, of course, a legitimate role for surveillance technology in preventing crime, supporting law enforcement, improving public services and enhancing public safety. However, public safety cannot be reduced to simply watching people. Traffic lights are not decorative conveniences. They regulate competing traffic flows, protect pedestrians, reduce confusion and help prevent injury and death. When they are not functioning, motorists and pedestrians are forced to negotiate dangerous intersections through instinct, aggression and chance. In those circumstances, the consequences of governmental failure are transferred directly onto ordinary road users.
The PPP Government appears increasingly capable of constructing systems that observe, record and control, while struggling to maintain the ordinary systems that make our daily life safer, more orderly and more predictable. A State that can install cameras at scale should also be capable of keeping traffic lights operational.
Citizens should not be forced to choose between being watched and being served. A modern State must be capable of doing both.
Yours faithfully,
Amanza Walton, M.P.
Discussion