Plenty Pumps Pumping Corbie

Jan 11, 2009 Features / Columnists

The Parrot had in the past commented on the heavy rainfall currently being experienced and the efforts to prevent a recurrence of the 2005 scenario. Unfortunately, I am forced to revisit the issue in the light of the recent utterances of the people over at the Place of CONgress.

Yes, some will say why bother to invest in precious time to craft such a response since most of what emanates from Palm Tree Jungle should not be dignified with a reply. Sometimes it’s difficult to simply ignore the diatribes which stem from Uncle Bob and his band of not-so-merry men.

It seems, from what was presented at the Palm Tree Party’s last dePress conference, that there is some level of synchrony with the rants from the Big Market paper. If one is not aware of the circumstances pertaining to drainage and irrigation and the geography of Guyana, he/she will be tempted to believe that the effects of the current heavy rainfall are only being felt here.

The Big Market paper has been consistent in their publishing of photographs which show selective areas being affected by the accumulation of water. These photographs are given front page prominence.

The paper can claim that they have a responsibility to publish such information. I would agree in the context of responsible journalism. However, based on what was constantly published over the last few weeks, it is not difficult to conclude that on this subject, the paper is overly deficient in fair and unbiased reporting.

Whilst some residents are being inconvenienced by the accumulation, some more than some, the Big Market paper has failed in providing pertinent information with regards to climate change and how its effects are compounded by physical factors including the current drainage capacity.

The drainage system was not designed by this administration. It is believed that it was designed some one hundred and fifty years ago. This, along with the fact that the coast is below the level of the mighty Atlantic and average recorded rainfall triples what the drainage capacity can handle, presents many challenges to the authorities.

Prior to 1992, many kokers and canals were abandoned. Some villages along the East Bank of Demerara were victims of such negligence. In one village, the southern koker collapsed and the northern one ceased to function. Cultivated lands and homes were inundated with salt water from the Demerara River resulting in vegetation indigenous to the river bank, flourishing in residents’ backyards. Over time, the vegetation was thicker in the residential areas than along the banks of the river.

I recall the late President Hoyte visiting residents in these areas and promising to rebuild the koker. The said koker was rebuilt after 1992 by this administration. Many farmers, who suffered during the period from the koker’s collapse and its eventual rebuilding, were forced to seek alternative avenues to their livelihoods.

This is just one example of many such instances before 1992 in which thousands were affected by floods. Numerous acres of rice land could not have been accessed then. Today, the cultivation and access of thousands of acres in a booming rice industry and other farm lands are evidence of the infrastructural and financial efforts by this administration to provide relief in these areas.

This brings me to what the Place of CONgress and the Big Market paper are propagating in relation to the current rainy season. They seem to be following the same chorus when words like neglect and incompetence are used to vilify the administration’s efforts to mitigate the related effects of climate change.

It is simple; if it is, as the detractors are claiming, that nothing was done by the administration since 2005 to reduce flooding, then, how it is in 2008/2009 when more rainfall has been recorded when compared to 2005, we do not see the level of flooding we experienced four years ago? This alone should debunk their arguments. How convenient for them not to refer to the many unfortunate disasters parts of the world are facing as a result of climate change.

Has the Big Market paper shown the current devastation in the USA? Have they shown other disasters in Brazil, England, India, Bolivia, Guatemala, Italy and other affected countries in which many lives were lost?

No. Has the Place of CONgress ever alluded to these unfortunate events? No. All of these unfortunate events mentioned have been linked to climate change; a phenomenon being articulated by Al Gore, President Jagdeo and others.

The only logical conclusion one can make from the lack of publication of these stories and related pictures by the Big Market paper and the deliberate avoidance by those at the place of CONgress is that there is an agenda to discredit the efforts by the administration to reduce the effects.

The Parrot interprets the efforts by these two agenda-driven entities as an exhibition in unpatriotic tendencies. Are they afraid to admit to their followers that much work was done since 2005? Are they afraid to admit that plenty pumps are pumping continuously to drain accumulated water?

Are they afraid to publish and announce that some seventy-six pumping pumps are pumping around the clock? Are they afraid to mention the millions spent to repair sluices and to dredge canals and outfalls? Are they afraid to tell the truth to their respective bands of followers?

Come on Uncle Bob and AP, why be afraid of plenty pumping pumps? These pumping pumps would not add water; it will cause it to recede. Or are you afraid of that? Pumpers, keep pumping!
Squawk! Squawk!