THE SAME OLD TUNE WILL PLAY ON

Jul 21, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Those who are railing against what the Minister of Local Government said or has been misrepresented to have said, are interestingly very mute when it comes to calling for the removal of those entrusted with managing the affairs of the city.
While indifference is shown to the serious shortcomings within the municipality, the minister will be roasted for simply expressing an opinion that amounts to nothing more than a vote of no confidence in the management of the council. The minister will be assailed for expressing this view, but those who have lorded over the rapid decline of this once lovely city will face no public shaming over the state to which they have allowed Georgetown to decline.
This decline did not happen overnight. It has been progressive over the past thirty years but has accelerated its descent over the past two years culminating in the now regular withdrawal of the services of the garbage collectors.
The most recent withdrawal is now nearing a month with no end in sight. Three contractors alone are said to be owed some 75 million dollars. How these companies manage with such cash flow shortfalls is beyond comprehension. A smaller shortfall in revenue would cripple most businesses. Perhaps these operators should give a lesson to the City Council on how to manage gaping deficits.
The excuse for not providing basic services has always been the same for the Council: it is cash-strapped. And the blame is laid at the feet of Central Government. First it was the failure of the government to approve new sources of revenue such as a container tax and a lottery. The failure of the Council to have these measures sanctioned never prevented them from ensuring the regular collection of household garbage from residents in the past. Now the excuse is that the government needs to pay up its quarterly taxes. The government, however, is not the only rate payer that needs to pay. There are many others who are not paying. But it is easy to lay the blame at the feet of the government.
There is no case in the argument that the government is shortchanging the municipality. It is the municipality that is shortchanging itself and the people of Georgetown, by not having an exit strategy through which they can remove themselves from the administration of the affairs of Georgetown.
The government has pumped billions into infrastructure works within the capital, works which are supposed to be done by the Council from its own revenue sources. Roads which were the responsibility of the Council have been redone in many areas as a result of government works. If these works were not done by government, Georgetown would have been condemned to further squalor.
There should be little quarrel about who will be glad should there be a basis for the removal of the Council. The former President of Guyana, Desmond Hoyte, had made such a call, even though his party was a partner in the Council.
Voices which call for the removal of the present PPP government are silent when it comes to the call for the present council to be sent packing. Not even the suggestion of an interim management committee comprising persons not affiliated to the political parties seems to find favour with those who are adamant that the government must go for its own mistakes.
This is the tragedy of Guyana. It does not matter what becomes of the stacks of garbage that are piling up in an exhausted dumpsite. Instead of demanding the immediate closure of that facility, there seems to be greater concern that it is bearing the name of an international statesman.
Instead of saying that enough is enough and calling for City Hall to recuse itself of the administration of Georgetown, there is tilting at the windmills over a statement allegedly made by a minister no doubt frustrated by what is taking place.
In the end it does not matter what any minister says. The government cannot remove the Council, for to do so would invite political unrest and a charge of extending hegemony.
The future of the city ultimately resides in the hands of the residents. But these very hands are not likely to release the city from the grip of stagnation. For despite the record of the past thirty years, the vast majority of the residents of the city are in the next local government elections going to re-elect to the council the very parties which have brought Georgetown to its knees. Wanna bet?

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