Latest update April 11th, 2025 9:20 AM
Tenth Parliament unanimously passes motion …Restoration of Georgetown underway
By Abena Rockcliffe
The poor sanitation and other pertinent issues that currently hinder the beautification of Guyana’s capital city, are about to be addressed as the National Assembly unanimously passed a motion titled “Restoration of Georgetown.”
The motion was successfully piloted by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s Member of Parliament Volda Lawrence.
It sought to capture the committed support of the National Assembly towards the restoration of our Capital City, Georgetown.
More importantly, the further resolved clause of the motion called for the Government to expand its multi stakeholders Committee to include Members of Parliament, Officials of the Georgetown City Council, and relevant Government Ministries.
Those bodies are called to aid in the development of an action plan, to allocate resources and to monitor the progress of the restoration of Georgetown. The Motion stipulated that the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment will, on behalf of the Committee, report to the National Assembly within
What the City used to be; in the heart of town, no garbage around
four months.
Though agreed to by both sides of the House, the motion saw several amendments being made to it by the government.
Debate on the motion attracted 11 speakers— five from APNU, the same number from the government, and Catherine Hughes representing the Alliance for Change (AFC).
Robert Persaud, during his presentation, received tremendous support from the opposition as they acknowledged many of the points he made by banging their hands on the desks.
The original motion had five whereas clauses but when amended by the government two were added.
One of the clauses amended was “the Georgetown City Council is unable to carry out its mandate as prescribed in the Municipal and District Councils Act of 1969 and the Local Democratic Organs Act of 1980, due to the severe under collection of taxes, rent and fees as well as the miserly subvention received from the Central Government.”
With the government’s amendments, all the reasons stated above were deleted.
Lawrence, in the tabling of her motion, said that Georgetown is the Capital City of Guyana, and had gained the Caribbean title of the Garden City. She noted that the present state of the city does not merit it sustaining that title.
She pointed out the expanded boundaries of Georgetown need for better drainage system. The heavy siltation of canals, the dumping of refuse and various other kinds of items which block drains, the lack of maintenance of the outfall channels have all led to poor drainage of the city.
The longstanding female Member of Parliament also pointed out that refused collection and disposal have reached a critical point where large amounts of garbage are being dumped on street corners, open spaces and canals, creating public nuisance and health hazards for citizens and visitors.
During her presentation, she mentioned that it pains her to know that many youths of Guyana will not enjoy the Georgetown she once loved.
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