THE SUMMIT AND THE CLEAN UP

Jun 29, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Every country likes to look dandy whenever there is a major international conference being held. After all, these events help to showcase the country to the many foreign dignitaries, their entourages and the media corps in tow.

Every country would like to make a favorable impression on their visitors. And thus it should be no shame in any government admitting that it is sprucing up for the hosting of an event. What is so wrong about admitting this? All countries spruce up for major events.

Guyana has been sprucing up for international events from time immemorial. When the Queen came to Guyana decades ago, this was done.

When foreign leaders are invited for State visits, the public becomes accustomed to works taking place in the city, works which were previously neglected. It is part of the tradition and it is part of what is to be expected.

No one therefore is going to be fooled into believing that the timing of the installation of road lights along previously unlit sections of the East Bank Public Road, the repainting of the National Cultural Center, the massive cleanup exercise that is taking place in the city, the recent imposed prohibition of roadside vending on Saffon Street and of course the removal of pavement and street dwellers, are not related to the forthcoming CARICOM Heads of Government Conference to be held in Guyana.

Last week, this newspaper published a photograph of the government removing street dwellers off the streets. It rightly asked the question whether this was being done because of the Caricom Meeting. Many people believe that it is.

Many people have asked why it did not happen before. Many persons have recalled that in the run up to Cricket World Cup 2007, the authorities had expressed similar concerns about the image of our country because of pavement dwelling.

They also recalled that sometime in the past, long before Cricket World Cup, an exercise was conducted whereby persons sleeping on the streets were ferried to the government’s night shelter in La Penitence.

Now that the exercise has recommenced on the eve of the hosting of the Heads of Government Summit, questions are once again being raised as to why that particular exercise was not sustained and the coincidence of it being recommenced on the eve of the Summit.

The government should not be ashamed of admitting that this recent campaign is related to Guyana’s hosting.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a campaign being triggered by a national event, as long as there is a renewed commitment to continue the campaign after the event has finished.

One would have expected that after Cricket World Cup 2007, the government would have maintained the same level of interest in the image of the city and in keeping the street people off the streets.

It is a sad indictment on the planning process that the people of a country have to wait on the hosting of international events before they can see some significant improvement in certain areas.

While the government may have been planning long ago to implement street lights along the East Bank Public Road, while it may have all along planned to repaint the exterior of the National Cultural Center, the fact remains that these activities are now taking place and are going to be completed in time for the hosting of the Heads of Government Conference, just as how just before the next elections in 2011, there is going to be a burst of activities to impress the electorate.

The people know about these things. And thus they are not going to be impressed by what the Minister of Human Services, Priya Manickchand, has to say about what this newspaper is reporting.

The people of Guyana are not going to reject this newspaper’s questioning of the activity to take street dwellers off the roads. She is wasting her time and breath in trying to convince the people that this activity is unrelated to readying Guyana for the big event this weekend.

The Guyanese people can read between the lines. They know what is going down. They know that that special $10M a month arrangement between the government and the Georgetown municipality is not a sign that the relations between the two are in a new dispensation. They know that when it comes to the government and City Hall it is business as usual.

The people know that this $10M a month is triggered by two things. The first is the possibility of Local Government Elections later this year and the hosting of the CARICOM Summit.

A picture they say paints a thousand words and yesterday this newspaper carried a front page photograph showing workers spading dirt off the road in La Penitence.

This is just days after it was announced that roadside vending will not be allowed on Saffon Street. Now who wants to tell us that the timing of these acts is unrelated to the Heads of Government Meeting this weekend?

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