Though the perception is that many persons will now be jobless, owing to the move by Government to impose a centralisation
Many persons will now be jobless owing to the move by Government to impose a centralisation system for the issuance of vehicle licence plates
system for the issuance of vehicle licence plates, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman is assuring that this will not necessarily be the case.
Sections of the public continue to cry out over the decision by Government to impose this system, citing that many breadwinners will now be forced to find alternative ways of providing for their families. However, Minister Trotman explained that even though the system will be centralised, there will be agencies across the country which will have vacancies which can be occupied by those entrepreneurs who were already involved in the trade.
“They will be given explanations and invited to submit bids… It is not going to be done without taking their views into account,” the Minister assured. The reason for embarking on this initiative, the Minister explained, is to ensure that licence plates being issued are uniformed and regularised as they will be embedded with special security features in order to easily distinguish between fake plates and a genuine one.
“A number of small enterprise businesses that do number plates, we received information that some of them are being used, unwittingly so, to produce fake plates from time to time,” Minister Trotman explained, indicating that this new system will help curb the issue of criminal activities which rely on counterfeit licence plates.
Currently, licence plates are being manufactured by any printing company or individual in the country with the capacity to
Forbes Christian shows a list of some of his regular clients, including the Guyana Fire Service
manufacture such. Guyana Times spoke with a representative from Jai Sign and Auto Designs, who noted that the company will experience significant losses if this new system sees fruition.
“We do other things but we basically started on number plates and we eventually ventured out into signs and thing, so that is a big part of our operations… we would lose out a lot because every day is a constant thing, people come in all the time so at the end of the month, is a lot of money we make from this,” he said.
Nonetheless, while hopeful that his business will win some of the bids to continue to operate, he noted that numerous entities will unfortunately be put out of operation.
One of the smaller entities, located on Croal Street, Georgetown, is not in favour of this move. Forbes Christian, owner of one such establishment, expressed his deepest dissatisfaction with the idea, noting that it will only cause chaos. He explained that a centralisation process will put a toll on the Government and will only make the process tedious for customers as they will have to wait longer before they get their plates completed.
Another small establishment, operated by Chris (only name given), noted that it is the smaller business owners who will feel the brunt of this decision because the larger companies can earn income from doing other things, like graphic designing or tinting.
“So what’s going to happen with all the licence plates that issued before? This won’t stop the criminals them, they will still be thieving and doing them things. I think even if they want to install a security strip in the plates, then they should let us do it because nuff of we gonna be out of work,” he said.
However, other sections of society are highly in favour of this decision, noting that it is time law and order prevailed.