This situation has become offensive

Nov 06, 2013 Editorial

Kaieteur News has highlighted by a graphic photo-story the appalling garbage pile-up in our Capital City, with the Deputy Mayor commenting that a health crisis could be in the making.
We are constantly condemned by the political directorate that we highlight only negatives but some issues do cry out for exposure, and we make no apologies for doing so, even if we seem to be repeating ourselves in these columns.
The garbage situation is one such issue. Though we acknowledge the cosmetic clean-up every time foreign dignitaries visit Guyana, there seems to be no sustained policy to deal with this problem. The newly-minted Ministry for the Environment could be more concerned about polluted waters in the interior than with the stench and foul odours affecting several East Coast and East Bank villages.
We hoped that the Diwali celebrations would cast a bright light on our dirty surroundings, as it would have been evident to all who venture east along our Railway Embankment and the “East Coast Highway”, that garbage pile-up is not only an urban problem. We hoped in vain.
Our decision-makers from top to bottom are probably caught up by the “big picture” on which former President Jagdeo wants them to focus, such as four-lane roads, casino, airport and bridge and other mega projects, and could have lost sight of the small things that are important to the life of our people.
Guyanese returning home for the year-end holiday would not be impressed by the “big picture”. They literally run away from the skyscrapers, the glitz of wide streets, and glamour of city life, to enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation in a clean environment, but the garbage situation is an eye-sore that could turn them off.
So offensive has this situation become that on a few occasions, foreign diplomats had, at their own expense, mounted campaigns not only to clean city environs but to promote awareness that littering poses a health hazard.
The politicians at the central and municipal levels, as expected, would continue to lay blame, not without some justification. At the lower levels, starting from our villages, the local government bodies hardly function as they comprise mostly hand-picked persons. Garbage collection is not a priority. At the municipal level, inertia seems to have set in and citizens can expect little for their taxes, and would rather blame government for not holding new local government and municipal elections after 19 years, so that the Augean stables could be cleansed of inert councils.
But the government itself cannot escape blame, as it continues to handle the garbage crisis in a cavalier fashion. It’s much promised policy on restricted use of styrofoam and assorted plastic containers has not come into force, and no one seems to know how monies from the environmental tax have been used, and with what results, if any.
Just as public policy favours a zero-tolerance for armed banditry, with a resurgence of demands to carry out execution of convicted murderers, which we accept is both a controversial and divisive issue, so too have emerged voices for stiff penalties for violators caught in the act of dumping garbage in unauthorised sites.
The lack of enforcement has led, not so long ago, to dumping of medical waste on street corners and, more recently, the disposal of needles and body parts in a remote village in Essequibo.
We say that it is long past time for the government to include waste disposal and environmental safety among the poster displays of the “big picture”, and abandon its knee-jerk reaction to even justifiable criticisms that it ought to show greater will to tackle the garbage problem.

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