Once again, the Government of Jamaica does what it does best. It sees a problem, does not pass any regulation, something horrific happens, then it throws the baby out with the bathwater and declares ‘off with their heads’.

The latest example of this blunder was committed by Minister Daryl Vaz’s order to Digicel and Flow (i.e. telecom companies) to block all ride-sharing applications on their networks.  

Let me just start by saying that the murder of Danielle Ranglin is horrific.

But Minister Vaz’s order is ridiculous. It is his Ministry that allowed the lackadaisical activities of ride-share apps in the first place. Now he is trying to make up for the Ministry’s laziness and punish everyone in the process.

Uber, for example, came to Jamaica in 2021 (almost three years ago). It was clear to the Jamaican government that ride-sharing, whether it was Uber or any other entity, was coming.

Instead of passing regulation, the Government did what it normally does – stands back, watches and eats popcorn, and waits for the s—t to hit the fan.

It has been said it takes a long time to pass regulations in Jamaica. That is garbage. We who live here know that when the government wants to change a law/regulation for its benefit (e.g. Paula Llewelyn) that piece of paper is run through parliament faster than Bolt can run the 100 metres.

Don’t get me wrong – these apps need to be regulated. But shutting down a man’s business for potentially a year, while the Ministry tries to get off its rear end and does something, is asinine.

I am no politician but maybe the Ministry could call the entities in, deploy teams from the Ministry to at least do cursory investigations, and immediately suspend the bad actors while they continue the investigations.  But no – we just drown them all.

As a consumer of these ride-sharing apps, let me give you the other side. One of the major benefits of ride-sharing apps is that they come to where you are. The consumer is not faced with either (a) standing on the side of the road praying for an empty taxi to drive by (b) hoping they have the cell phone number of a taxi friend that they can call and who is maybe available or (c) walking aimlessly to a location where you hope a taxi will be. Please don’t be bothered by the fact that the last action equally exposes women to being raped by walking alone on the roadside, especially if this is late at night.

Additionally, let us not clasp our pearls and acknowledge that some licensed taxi men are equally bad actors and have no difficulty raping or robbing women. It is just the truth.  

I am not saying that something should not be done. I am saying Minister Vaz’s method of action lacks common sense.

I am sure if Minister Vaz woke up one day to find out that the government shut down his business or a service that affected his business, we would hear him cussing from St. Thomas to Westmoreland.

But I guess you don’t have that problem when you have multiple cars at your disposal.