The opposition remains conspicuously silent on City Hall’s incompetence

Nov 29, 2012 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
After reading a pathetic response to my letter: “Is this a joke?” (Kaieteur News, October 23), by Royston King, Public Relations Officer – Mayor and City Council (M&CC), I am convinced more than ever, that the mindset of those at City Hall is indirectly responsible for the deplorable state of pollution that exists in Georgetown. It appears they lack the vision and the will to alleviate the environmental disaster that was once the Garden City of the Caribbean.
I empathize with Mr. King, for it must be extremely difficult for him to defend the indefensible. But in his letter: “The problem of improper disposal of waste is national” (Kaieteur News, November 26), He attempted to do just that. He claimed to be “challenged to understand” certain aspects of my letter, and tries to justify City Hall’s incompetence by stating the obvious: That the improper disposal of waste is national, and not restricted to the city.
I agree with this observation, but Georgetown is the nation’s capital city, with a Municipality, a Mayor and City Council. Unlike small villages, significant amounts of rates and taxes are collected, and the business community deserves to see those tax dollars at work. His neighbour’s yard may look like a pig sty, but that is no excuse for him to keep his surroundings the same way.
City Hall should lead by example, not reduce the city’s landscape to the slums of other communities. To continue using the excuse year after year of having “limited resources” is unacceptable. It clearly demonstrates the inability of those in authority to get things done. If City Hall was a private corporation, all the top executives would be replaced, and that’s a fact.
Quite notably, those in the opposition who were quick to judge the Home Affairs Minister on his job performance, remain conspicuously silent when it comes to City Hall’s incompetence, despite damning allegations of corruption and irregularities at the M&CC as cited in the Gaskin Report.
In an article: “Massive fraud uncovered at M&CC – report”, (Kaieteur News, June 16, 2012), the Gaskin Report exposes damaging details of fraud and irregularities within the Mayor and City Council.
Consultant Ramon Gaskin was a member of a special committee established by Government, and headed by Keith Burrowes. The Burrowes Commission was established in 2008 as a result of issues raised in the Auditor General’s Report of the same year. The Terms of Reference required an investigation into the offices of the City Treasurer and Town Clerk; the procedures regarding regulation of staff loans and advances; irregularities in rate collection; municipal accounts in commercial banks; and restructuring of municipal departments and their operations.
The Investigation had suggested, among other things, that about half of the 800 staffers of M&CC were believed to be “phantom workers.” Keith Burrowes was reported to have said, “Now if all those people are working, the city should be cleaner.” The overtime at M&CC, he said, is appalling,
“I think that is the only place where the overtime is rivaling the overall employment cost.”
According to the KN article, “The Government of Guyana, last year, handed over seven new garbage trucks to city council. However, recent checks disclosed that one of the trucks was inoperable. It had a burnt engine. So, he said, the team started to explore reasons.
He said that it was soon realized that it was a deliberate ploy to have the trucks “lined up” instead of being used so that the “other people” could be contracted.”
The article continued, “Norman Whittaker, Minister within the Ministry of Local Government informed that M&CC owes Guyana Power & Light $882 million. He said that GPL is now threatening to halt its street lights supply. What is interesting, he said, is that there are “persons and businesses out there that are indebted to the tune of approximately $12B…but there is no interest shown by the council to collect those monies – a lot of which is owed by commercial businesses.”
And according to Burrowes, there are still businesses that are paying residential rates and taxes.
As a result of the findings of the Gaskin Report, three top M&CC officials were sent home to facilitate a thorough (hopefully, criminal) investigation.
What bothers me, though, is this irresponsible statement from PRO King: “It has not escaped our attention that Mr. Gill seems to believe that Council must be blamed for the current condition of the city. However, we have a different view; citizens must demonstrate civic pride and respect for their general surroundings and the environment. We have said and continue to say that the problem we face as a municipality is not to clean up the city but to keep it clean.”
Of course it is the responsibility of every citizen not to litter, but the M&CC cannot escape responsibility for the disgraceful, deplorable garbage pile-up that is so prevalent throughout Georgetown year after year.
Responsible citizens are already doing their part. Environmental projects like ‘Pick it Up Guyana‘ and ‘Guyana Shine‘ were born because Guyanese are both concerned and embarrassed by the inability of the M&CC to keep our city clean.
Admittedly, there are habitual polluters who continually hurt the environment, and need to be punished. But to many others, discarding another piece of paper or soda can in a drain that’s already polluted, makes no difference to the environment. There are simply very few garbage receptacles around to use, and not enough resources committed to the task. Restaurant and business owners may have a responsibility to provide adequate receptacles, but City Hall has an obligation to do so.
And then this startling admission by Mr King which clearly demonstrates dereliction of duty: “…many big businesses are involved in illegal dumping around the city. Some businessmen pay pittance to “junkies” to remove large amounts of garbage from their premises to anywhere in the city. Every morning, workers employed by some businesses along Regent Street, Water Street and Robb Street could be seen sweeping debris from their stores into the street drains.”
If this is so, and I believe it to be, why is this practice allowed to go unpunished? The solution is a simple one: You don’t have to be a detective or rocket scientist to determine where the garbage comes from. A casual search through the garbage will uncover many clues and proof of ownership. Then, armed with the evidence, City Constabulary can now issue a violation to the owner of the offending business. It’s as simple as that.
As for those store employees who sweep debris from their stores into the drains “every morning”, Constabulary police armed with cameras, should stake out these places and catch the culprits in the act. Then issue violations to both employees and employer. Such punishment should cause the willful practice of littering to decline.
M&CC does not need to seek the help of the Private Sector Commission and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry to “persuade their members to account for their waste and to secure the integrity of the city”. M&CC needs to enforce the laws on littering. But I guess too many corrupted Constabulary Police are more interested in extorting monies from illegal vendors, rather than executing the jobs they’re being paid to do. I’ve noted that Royston King chose not to respond to this accusation in my letter. He avoided it like a plague.
With reference to the traffic congestion in the city, Mr. King stated that it “could not be fairly linked to street vending alone.” He added, “There are numerous other factors that contribute to the vehicular traffic problem in the city, including, the need for a different approach to public transportation in Guyana, the lack of proper parking facilities and a good network of appropriate public spaces to encourage cycling and walking by citizens.”
While this may be so, one has got to be blind not to see the encroachment on pavements and roadsides by vendors plying their trade, unhindered and (I daresay) encouraged by City Hall. The Constabulary must do their part and remove these miscreants from the streets and sidewalks, and let the Police Traffic Department deal with other forms of traffic congestion.
In conclusion, the M&CC has no one but themselves to blame for the demise of the Garden City. The municipality, which is entrusted with administering the affairs of the city, has failed us miserably. Perhaps the time has come for Government to install an Interim Management Committee to manage the affairs of the city, and to restore the pride we once had as Guyanese.
Harry Gill    

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