One or all of the State-owned pools must be open the public

Apr 22, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
I refer to an article in the Stabroek News of Saturday, April 21, 2012 in which the Minister of Sports told the press that as far as he knows the Colgrain Swimming Pool is open to the public.
He knows full well that none of the three State owned swimming facilities are accessible to the general public. The emphasis is on the word “general.” It is downright deliberate deception for any Government Minister to say that these pools are available to the public to swim.
Here are the facts. Colgrain – only members of swimming clubs. Castellani – only invited guests and those given permission by Office of the President.
Aquatic Centre – for competitive swimmers only and invited guests. I live near the Aquatic Centre and I see that the favoured ones make use of it after sundown. The elites have Castellani pool now they have moved into the Aquatic Centre.
I have to pass that place daily and you should see how the elites enjoy themselves in the night. No one has mentioned that the Ministry of Sports built a gym with public money inside the National Service Sports Club on Carifesta Avenue.
Only the privileged few can use it. I go on the seawall every afternoon and that gym is always closed. It is used when the kings and queens of Guyana feel the need to exercise. It is a total shame that APNU abstained in cutting the estimates for the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
What needs to be said is that the political kings and queens also swim at two private pools at Pradovile number one. None of the three State owned structures has a walk-in privilege the way the National Park, the Botanic Gardens, the Promenade Gardens, etc do.
Why do I have to join a swimming club to attend Colgrain? Why should someone spend money to join a club when all they want to do on a hot day after a torrid day’s work is just walk into one of these facilities and have a swim as it was with the Luckhoo structure in the seventies?
When a group of us (Malcolm Harrypaul, Mark Benschop, David Patterson, Gerhard Ramsaroop and Michael Carrington) protested the private operations of these pools our point was unambiguous – make all three into a walk in place but on different days.
So from Monday to Wednesday it is Colgrain. From Thursday to Friday it is Castellani. From Saturday to Sunday, the Aquatic Centre. Alternatively, allocate one of them to function like the Luckhoo pool.
We reject outright the edict that the public should not access these structures openly. You can charge a fee to support maintenance but one or all of these pools must have a walk-in privilege because they are owned by the State which acts on behalf of the Guyanese people
I don’t have to join a gym to exercise in the National Park. I don’t have to belong to a Botanic Society to play with the animals in the zoo. Why must I join a club to enjoy Colgrain.
I am informing the Minister that there will be police involvement in this matter because all six of us plan to arrive at one of these three waterways and just jump in and swim and will refuse to be ejected. Let them call in the police. That is our dedicated intention.
While we are doing this, APNU which has not pronounced on the issue can join us for a swim. It may clear the heads of the leadership when they go up to Linden to persuade the people there about their role in the electricity affair
Frederick Kissoon

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One or all of the State-owned pools must be open the public

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