‘Rosa Parks’ relieved herself in bank
THE EDITOR: The Government has burdened this country with another paid public non-functionary called a Banking Services Ombudsman (BSO) for short, but hopefully not for long). This non-performing public official even has a large cadre of employees to isolate and insulate her from the public so that she can avoid scrutiny while the nation remains at the mercy of banking usurers. Every year banks declare higher and higher super-profits, boasting of the success of their oligopoly, and you can be sure that what is declared is not the totality of their gains. But the provision of toilet facilities for the use of their exploited, long-suffering customers (victims?) is too much to ask of them. The claim of security issues is as transparent as it is disingenuous. Banks have more security officers than any other commercial enterprise. Every eating place, where you can go and transact your business and be out in fifteen minutes, has public facilities. But banks, where every transaction from a deposit to a loan can take more than an hour, refuse to provide any. No customer can enter a bank to do any business transaction, other than use the ATM, and hope to leave in a few minutes. What occurred with the senior citizen in the bank can happen to any one of us on any day at any time in any bank. How many of us would have had the courage to do what our compatriot did? Being "Trini to the bone" does not only mean donning your skimpiest outfit on public occasions and wining in front of the cameras. It also means standing up for your rights when necessary. Our compatriot may well be the Trini version of Rosa Parks, standing up against the bank’s discriminatory policies. It certainly is more than the Banking Services Ombudsman has done in all the years since she has been appointed. KARAN MAHABIRSINGH Caraipichaima
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"‘Rosa Parks’ relieved herself in bank"