Where was the flood preparation?

Jun 01, 2010 Editorial

During the dry spell the government through the Ministry of Agriculture, announced that it was spending hundreds of millions of dollars to prepare for the rainy season.
The preparations would have entailed clearing drains and outfall channels, repairing dams to farms and the backlands, and creating new waterways for drainage.
On one occasion, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud announced that he was spending in excess of $400 million to do these works.
Many people could not see the effects of these works because there was no rain. At the time the observers were reeling from the effects of El Nino so they believed the government.
There were no rains so the people could not ascertain the extent of the works. They took the government at its word. Some even saw drainage canals being dug and concluded that when the rains came they would be safe.
The rains are here but not with the intensity that some people expect when they hear of rainy season. At least this is the case along the coast.
Indeed, there has been some heavy and continuous rainfall in the hinterland areas to the extent that sections of the communities have become rivers while others have been transformed into islands.
But the government did not announce spending monies in those communities, probably because those communities are elevated and water runs down hills and into gullies. They are self draining. But the low-lying coastal plains are a different matter. There must be supporting infrastructure to aid in drainage and it is on this that the government spent more than $400 million.
Now that the rains have come there is no evidence of the expenditure. Many communities are flooded and the residents are making no bones of their discomfort and their anger. When approached they would ask where in the world was the money spent. Those questioned should direct their queries to the Minister of Agriculture.
We do not expect to hear the same complaints that people blocked the drainage canals and outfall canals with garbage.
The government was at pains to report that it had moved tons of garbage and that it would have the neighbourhood democratic councils police the canals. It invited the press to see the volume of garbage that had been dumped into the canals.
On the Essequibo Coast the flooding is just as severe as parts of lower East Coast Demerara where even cemeteries are inundated. There are reports of the Anna Regina Market being under as much as six inches of water.
There were people from the Pomeroon who complained of losing crops to the flood waters; their counterparts on the Lower East Coast Demerara were suffering the same fate. They reported having to build high bridges to access their homes; they spoke of having to try as they might to seek drainage and failing.
Yesterday, we learnt that the government rushed pumps to a number of communities between Mon Repos and Bee Hive, Mahaica. The pumps, when there were supposed to be massive drainage programmes.
Situations like these help fuel talks of corruption. They have people questioning every word about expenditure by the government. As fate would have it, the rains have been intermittent but even that seems not enough for the water to run off.
Minister Robert Persaud has a duty to take the media and all who have an interest to the locations where he spent the countless millions. He must also explain the extent of the works and how they came to cost the sums he spent.
He must also explain the reason for the flooding in such a wide area despite the minimal rainfall.

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