Kellawan Lall’s statement is garbage - Trotman

Kellawan Lall’s statement is garbage – Trotman

Jul 18, 2010 News

Call for a health crisis in city…
Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Robert Williams is pushing for the government to pay outstanding rates as this will help to pay garbage collectors, warning that if a health crisis develops in the city then this can pose a threat to the entire country.
He was responding to comments by the Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall that he, Lall, would be glad if there is a health crisis in the city as a result of the non-collection of garbage, because this would lead to the removal of the City Council.
Garbage has been piling up in all areas of the city after collectors withdrew their services to protest non-payments.
“Disease in a city poses a threat to the country since people in the city are not isolated from the rest of the country, Williams told Kaieteur News in an invited comment.
Waste Disposal contractors Puran Brothers Waste Disposal Service, Cevons Waste Management Incorporated, and Crawler and Wheeler Waste Disposal Service on June 21, last, made good on their threat to withdraw their services from the Georgetown municipality. The contractors are owed $75 million.

Raphael Trotman

And there is no indication when the Council will be able to pay up and get the garbage collectors back out. Williams said that the Council has been intensifying efforts to collect revenue by the traditional means, namely rates and taxes, market fees, and processing fees for various applications.
But that cannot add up to meet the Council’s budget and the Council said the amount owed by the government could help.
“Whenever the money is due to the City Council from Central government in rates and taxes we pay,” Minister Lall stated last week.
However, Williams said that Central Government owes the Council $42 million in taxes for the third quarter. This was due on July 1, and Williams said there is no indication when the Council could receive that money.
Further, Lall suggested that there is no formal agreement when rates and taxes are to be paid, but Williams said the Minister was being “very inaccurate.” The Deputy Mayor stated that payment for the first quarter is due on February 1, for the second quarter April 1, for the third quarter July 1, and for the fourth quarter October 1.
Lall said that he was not willing to listen to anything the Council has to say unless the Council talks about cutting staff.
“The Mayor is not talking about how he is going to cut a wage bill of $75 million a month. He has to deal with that problem,” Lall said earlier in the week.
But yesterday, Williams said that the City Council needs the 900 workers it has on payroll, even if salary payments eat up a significant part of its revenue.
For the first five months of this year, the Council collected $675 million. Of that amount, $375 million went towards the payment of salaries.
The Council needs $25 million every month to pay garbage collectors. Since the three garbage collectors pulled their services, City Hall has been using what resources it has to pick up garbage in key areas.
Williams said the Ministry of Public Works has assisted with the provision of trucks, while some businesses in Georgetown have either provided trucks or have agreed to rental cost for trucks.
“It is unbelievable that words attributed to Minister Kellawan Lall that he hopes that the city experiences a public health crisis could have actually been uttered by him. (He) is a public official, and citizen of Georgetown.”
This is according to Leader of the Alliance for Change, Raphael Trotman, who said that it is unfortunate, in Guyana, that this type of “garbage” could be uttered by a Minister of Government and will go uncensored by the Head of State, or by his peers and colleagues.
In an organized society people would call for his resignation, he said.
“Instead, we expect that the Cabinet of Ministers will all join in cheering the Minister on for not only calling for, but actively pursuing the outbreak of diseases and the development of a public health crisis in the Capital City…It is up to us as citizens to voice our outrage and disgust at what is taking place here.”
Trotman said that the statement is unpardonable and serves to confirm that the People’s Progressive Party Civic regime is deliberately starving the Georgetown City Council, where it does not have a majority.
He said that the Council is being starved of much needed revenue and resources so as to force a certain set of events.
This, he explained, is to ensure failure, and ultimately, the takeover of the affairs of the City through the “devious” device of an Interim Management Committee.
Trotman said that his party is calling on the citizens of Guyana, and those of Georgetown in particular, “to expose the PPP’s shenanigans and not to buy into these games being played with people’s lives, but to play their part in cleaning and beautifying their own surroundings without having to wait for Minister Lall, the City Council, Government, or anyone else…Let us begin taking matters into our own hands for our health and well being.”
Lall, on Wednesday last said he would be glad if there is a health crisis in the city.
“Well, if there is a health crisis in the city, I would be glad, because it would remove the City Council. They’ll be responsible for it,” Lall told reporters when questioned about a potential health crisis in the city over garbage that has been piling up for the past three weeks.
Waste Disposal contractors, Puran Brothers, Waste Disposal Service Cevons Waste Management Incorporated, and Crawler and Wheeler Waste Disposal Service, on June 21, made good on their threat to withdraw their services from the Georgetown Municipality.
The contractors are owed $75 million.