So, the Ministry of Works and Transport is learning rather belatedly that its job, if properly executed, requires a minimum amount of capacity in the area of research and development.
Months and months after advertisements inviting applications for Uber drivers and intentionally low-impact promotion of the service, a January 16 press release, couched in typically-authoritarian language, announces that the ministry is "seeking legal advice" on the introduction of the new service.
At one time, when the world was simpler, "seeking legal advice" served as a cue to stop what you were doing. Today, the bar has risen to serving a "pre-action protocol letter"–"ah lawyer letter" that used to cost a couple hundred dollars facilitated by touts operating outside the magistrates' court, but now elevated to the level of senior council brief.
In the room, this round, is the gigantic pre-historic elephant of the "PH" phenomenon and what we do about it. Former Works minister, Jack Warner, was slaughtered for proposing its "legalisation" early in his (to put it mildly) amazing tenure in mainstream politics even as public service officialdom continued to turn a studiously blind eye to an unlawful activity that ought to have generated enlightened, clinical study and an informed response.
What are the voids being filled? Who uses PH taxis and why? How does this fit into the design of a modern, public transit system, inclusive of state-supported operations? What are the psycho-social impacts of decriminalisation in the context of pervasive lawlessness? I am sure these questions have been asked somewhere and at some time during the history of this ministry and successive political administrations.
These are the questions real governments with real administrative support seek to answer. Instead, the choice has apparently been to do nothing. So, today, we greet Uber as if it landed from Mars, when long before the app there were word-of-mouth references and established networks facilitating paid, private transportation arrangements in this country.
Now, add to Uber Wars, the recent launch of what the ministry has insisted on calling a "New Driving Permit System."
Almost immediately following last Friday's launch, some of the amateur and professional techie-types I have to put up with were humping and grumping about the fuss being generated about something that has now become routine, taken for granted, and in some instances, considered obsolete in many serious countries–the coding of official identification in order to access centrally-stored information on identification cardholders.
It was however noted, at the launch, that the legislation required to take advantage of this marvellous innovation remains en route to parliament and that the Police were not yet in possession of the devices to read the cards.
So, what in fact happened on January 13 was the introduction of a "new" drivers' license that is identical to the old version but includes a, so far, useless bar code.
Don't get me wrong, this licensing road is paved with absolutely good intentions. I completely support the points system for drivers–take away their permits when a certain threshold is reached and all that. The police should also be able to swipe a card to pick up instances of fraud and positively identify criminals on the spot.
With new headquarters soon to be inaugurated, I can imagine the amount of training in new systems, software and management of a sophisticated IT infrastructure taking place at this time. The ministry ought to be a hive of frenetic activity in preparation for a new dawn.
What, in my view, was missing last Friday was meaningful reference to the link between this modest process being embarked upon at the Licensing Office and long-standing efforts spanning several administrations to move the country into the realm of true (as opposed to nominal) e-governance.
In a bizarre way, the Uber model offers a few technological guidelines.
The techie types will tell also you, for example, that the opportunity exists for the several administrative silos of government, including the licensing of drivers and their vehicles, the tax authorities, the Elections Commission and everyone else requiring some form of identification, to pool their collective resources toward development of a single micro-chipped ID card.
In the process, providing it overcomes important privacy hurdles, a single card can be made available that contains everything including urgently required blood types, chronic illness health status (perhaps), driving records, vehicles owned, tax and national insurance numbers and telephone numbers in the event of an emergency. When will we see the press conference to make this announcement?
To me, Uber Wars and the DP launch are part of the same sad story. I see the billboard now: Uber Wars and The Reign of the Luddites.