LICENSING AUTHORITY UNDERMINES PRASLIN’S TOURISM INDUSTRY
The tourism industry on Praslin is in turmoil after it turns out that for the last twenty years, all the converted pick-up trucks which the hotels were using to transport their staff to and from work are illegal according to the Licensing Authority. Now, it seems they have to desist from carrying hotel staff they have not been licensed to do so by the Licensing Authority.
And the Authority on issuing the license to commercial vehicles, prohibits the carrying of “passengers”, which is fair enough if the owner wanted it to operate as a public bus service, in other words, the carrying of passengers for a fare. But that is not what the trucks on Praslin are doing. They are only carrying staff of the hotels who either own the trucks or contract them. It is not the passengers who pay for the ride, unlike in an SPTC bus in normal circumstances, but the employer.
What made matters worse was the fact the insurance contract for the vehicles in question has an exclusion clause which states that passengers are insured only if the vehicle were licensed to carry passengers. But the Licensing Authority says no, they are not licensed to carry passengers. So the insurance companies say the passengers are not insured. Now the Licensing Authority is putting its feet down as well, telling the vehicle owners if they carry hotel workers home, even if the hotel owns the truck, they would be violating the terms of their vehicle license; a perfect Catch 22 situation.
The Licensing Authority is a very controversial institution. It was created during the one-party state in order for the government (SPPF) to control all business activities in
All international institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF or the African Development Bank (ADB) have warned that the Licenses Act is a major impediment to investment in
In effect, this means that no law can place a restriction on a citizen that impedes him or her from earning a living from his or her freely chosen occupation, profession or trade, only if such restrictions are necessary in a democratic society. But no democratic party we know of has such restrictions.
In the case of Praslin, the business of the trucks is not the carrying of passengers in return for money from the passengers but to serve a hotel’s requirement to take its staff home and to work for which the hotel pays as a lump sum but not per passenger. Surely, the Licensing Authority can accept this arrangement as not being the “carrying of passengers” and the insurers in the same way by treating them as commercial vehicles in the normal circumstances, and perhaps charge an additional premium upon proof of such a contract.
The last we heard, the Licensing Authority is pondering what to do. They are welcome to use our ideas above.