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Asbestos, the EPA, the other EPA and the media

Jul 12, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Let me make it quite clear here and now: as an opinion-maker in this country, I will not support any campaign by the Government of Guyana against the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARICOM and the European Community if the process is not an all-embracing intention to democratize the administration of this territory.

The embrace of President Jagdeo’s crusade against the EPA should be a national effort including many other domestic issues that are in urgent need of stakeholder consensus.

How can you expect me to support a re-negotiation of the EPA when this Government tolerates things that are far more deleterious to many sections of this population?

Take the asbestos removal currently going on at UG. Anyone can go on the Internet and read about the danger of asbestos.

Europe and North America got rid of asbestos from existing buildings in the early seventies. One can also read about the procedures for removal of asbestos. It is a meticulous process, because the inhalation of asbestos dust leads to carcinogenic symptoms.

Once, I was driving along Mandela Avenue and I saw things that looked like characters out of the first James Bond movie, Dr. No.

Remember, Dr. No was carrying on a highly sensitive operation that involved nuclear fuel. So the employees at the facility had to wear gear that looked as if they were walking inside a tank.

The things that I saw were the employees of Courtney Benn Company removing asbestos from a high school. The protective gear has to be water proof.

Queens Atlantic, which bought over Sanata Textiles, recently completed the removal of asbestos from the site, and the quantity was smaller than what UG possessed. Queens Atlantic announced that the cost was $400M.

UG asbestos accumulation is much more. Yet, the company that won the removal contract tendered at $200M. One suspects that the lowest bid attracted the Ministry of Education. But when it comes to carcinogenic threats to human life, a government goes with the best.

My research shows that asbestos removal in Guyana has only been done by Courtney Benn Company. That company lost out because its cost was higher.

There was another submission by an expatriate Guyanese from the US. I saw his curriculum vitae, and if what is stated in that document is correct, then, together with Benn, these were the only two companies with experience in removing asbestos.

Words cannot describe how I felt when I saw what had taken place on Tuesday. I saw workers without protective gear.

These men should immediately seek medical treatment. Literally dozens of people called me to investigate what was taking place. Horticulturist Boyo Ramsaroop was livid. He demanded that I do something about it.

The student leader, Jason Benjamin, said that he was mobilizing public opinion.
The next day, the workers turned up with just a mask to cover their faces.

There was no body armour, as I saw when the Courtney Benn people were taking down the school in Mandela Avenue.

You have to wear protective gear over your whole body. The present clothes the people at UG are using are not adequate for the removal of such a dangerous substance.

We are supposed to denounce the unfairness of the EPA, but what about the cruel treatment our workers in this country have to put up with? All over Guyana, workers labour under dangerous conditions.

Here is a government that tells us that the EPA is not in our interest, but look at the atrocious way our poorer classes are treated.

Up to the moment, I have not seen the people from the other EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, turn up to examine the methods being used to remove the asbestos. This comes directly under the jurisdiction of the EPA.

You build a fowl pen in your backyard and the EPA arrives the next day to see if the pen has louvre windows so the chickens can get air. Set up a shoe-repair stand under your house and the EPA investigators will turn up to see if the nails you use are of good quality.

There is talk in the corridors of power of denouncing the EPA, but what about the other EPA? We should have denounced that a long time ago. As to the media, they must be more vigilant.

I don’t want the media to accept my word. Just go on the Internet, read about asbestos removal, then go and see how it is being done at UG.

There is so much more the media could do to ensure that the rights of the Guyanese people are respected by the Government of Guyana. It is time for the media to do its work.

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