Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Nov 30, 2012 Letters
Dear Editor
I refer to a letter in Kaieteur News November 23, 2012 by Harry Gill titled “is this a joke’. Harry Gill is a family and personal friend, however since he’s gone public again (even though earlier he said he’ll stop writing) I need offer a comment.
He has pontificated on City Hall. If he had taken the trouble to listen to my several media statements related to the sorry state of Georgetown he would have realized that it is useless to attack the Chief Constable or any of our officers while ignoring the fundamental issues facing the City.
I refer only to two aspects of his letter.
First it’s so easy to say take the vendors off the streets; the truth is we wish to do that, but it needs to be done with some order and compassion.
When the Georgetown Development Plan was approved it noted that the City was too congested, and the need existed to find a place for vendors. Government refused or failed to implement any of those proposals.
The problem is not so much the street vendor, but the need to accept vending as a way of life and to avoid them being treated as a nuisance.
Second, my friend Harry insults every Guyanese, but in particular the descendants of the martyred African slaves of 1823 by suggesting that the Parade Ground (now Independence Park) be used to accommodate vendors. Is he the mouthpiece of some folks who show little respect for certain folks?
The Parade Ground is sacred to those who know our history – Nowhere else in the civilized world would you put vendors on a ground where our ancestors’ blood soaked the area; where they were slaughtered and had their heads placed on poles on that very spot.
Indeed August 1, 2000 at an Emancipation Day Ceremony, then President Jagdeo and others buried coins with the promise to erect a monument to honour the 1823 martyrs. Why the change?
Please Harry at least respect that section of Guyanese whose sweat, blood and tears built the entire coastal infrastructure now enjoyed by one and all.
The other issue of corrupt officers is a serious matter – Every day I try to deal with this erosion of the fabric of our society, but Harry could it be that these Constabulary Ranks are merely following the example set by the ‘big ones’.
Should I offer a list? Just look at the Auditor General Report – NCN, NICIL – the Drug contracts, the road contracts, the Marriott deal; drive down High Street, stop at where Radio Demerara was, and see the scandal and waste of our money; go up to the Haags Bosch Garbage Site and you’ll have much to write about, but will you say anything to offend those in office? Silence would be better.
Hamilton Green, J.P.
Dec 19, 2024
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