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Only in Guyana!

Jun 26, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

This country is full of it, plenty full of it. There is no other country which can come close to Guyana when it comes to thoughtless actions.
Guyana continues to move two steps forward and three steps backward. Only in Guyana this happens!
It was recognized that Guyana had a solid waste disposal problem. Styrofoam and plastics, non-degradable products, were identified as the chief culprits in the clogging of drainage canals. This led to serious flooding.
The previous government took a decision to ban Styrofoam boxes. They went to parliament and passed a law banning Styrofoam but they gave a very long grace period to allow existing stocks to be utilized.
The new government was left with the task of implementing this decision. They have not done a good job at this at all. The Styrofoam boxes have been replaced, not with degradable material, but by plastic boxes.
There are many restaurants and some roadside fast food businesses who are serving food in plastic boxes rather than materials made from boxes made from degradable material. Instead of the situation improving it is becoming worse. The government should have issued an ultimatum, backed, by law, outlawing the serving of food in non-degradable material.
Guyana is still the Stone Age when it comes to the disposal of garbage. Household litter is not been separated into recyclable and non- recyclable items. Vegetables are still being left to rot rather than processed into fertilizers. If, Guyana is serious about having a green state it has to first ensure that we do not have a stink state.
The second area where things are moving backwards rather than forward is in the area of squatting. The government says that it will not be tolerating squatting. But squatting is increasing rather than decreasing, and the authorities are either not noticing or are unable to do anything about it.
The government has promised squatters in the city that they will provide them with housing. But they are not saying what is going to happen to the squatter structures?
Well, unless they are dismantled, the existing squatters will go and collect their housing units from the Ministry of Communities and will put their relatives to live in the squatting structures.
The government is trying to promote sanitation in housing areas by offering assistance persons to decommission their pit latrines and to move towards indoor flush toilets. They recognize the health dangers of pit latrines.
Yet, the government is doing very little to halt the increase in squatting on government reserves. The squatters are known to dispose of their human waste in the drainage canals. The fetid water filters into the yards of citizens whenever the drains swell, as they are wont to do during the rainy season.
Rice production has rebounded, ironically when markets are not there. And the farmers, knowing that the export markets are not there and not one major rice mill is preparing to be divested, went back to crop on a larger scale than before.
The government says that it is trying to find two top officials of the former administration. Who is the government bluffing? The government knows the present location of those officials?
Guyana passed laws against gambling. Only foreigners and guests at hotels in which there are casinos are supposed to be allowed into our local casinos. Guess what? Locals are being allowed entry into some casinos and this is public knowledge.
The government is erecting speed bumps on many streets. But many of these speed bumps are not being painted and so at nights most of them are not identifiable. The roads are being made unsafe in the name of road safety.
The One Lap Top per family programme allowed many poor children who would never have been able to afford a computer to acquire one free from the government. The APNU+AFC coalition decided to change this and to give the computers to teachers, most of whom can afford a laptop or already own one. But the poor children to whom these computers should have been given have to do without. And the government is speaking about establishing a department of reform and innovation to improve education.
The VAT was reduced by a mere 2%. Yet the GRA wants businesses to pass this reduction to consumers. And guess what? VAT intake was reduced by 10% this year. Yet, the government wants to tax private education in order to raise revenue.
Only in Guyana!

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