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Money to clean Le Repentir should not be doled out without a feasibility study
Dear Editor,
As much as I question whether it would actually cost the taxpayers $100M to ‘clean up’ the Le Repentir Cemetery, based on discussions with experts I’m advised that the entire project should not exceed more than $30M. Thus, I reserve the right to wait for the verbal promissory note issued by the President to distribute one hundred million Guyana Dollars to clean up Le Repentir, to be honored before jumping and clicking my heels in a surfeit of glee. At the same time I wish to offer conditional commendation for this seeming fulfilling of an obligation to our dear departed who lie in repose in that cemetery. It is unquestionable that one can determine how civilized a human society is from the manner in which it treats and honors its dearly departed members. The jury is no longer out on this with respect to Guyana, because over the past two decades or thereabouts, the conditions Le Repentir Cemetery have been allowed to descend into represent a national scandal, and suggest that even the most basic element of respect does not exist in our national psyche for those who lay in final repose in that Cemetery. My reservations with respect to this current promise, are products of past experience with similar previous promises. It is always easy to be magnanimous with promises, but they are worth nothing if they are not kept, and when made with no intent of making good on them, it evidences a blatant disregard for the feelings and concerns of those to whom it is being made. We in Guyana, as a national collective, have become jaded and disillusioned over the years from our experiences in a society where, as Ray Davies points out, :….money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we’re tired of hearing promises that we know they’ll never keep……”. I would urge the President to ensure that this contractual distribution does not follow the trend in which such projects are undertaken. The communities in proximity to Le Repentir should at least reap some economic benefits from their tax dollar investment in a project to clean up a landmark location in their community. I would further urge that one hundred million of the tax paying public dollars should not be doled out without a feasibility assessment of the cost to get the job done, and if the amount exceeds that which is fair and reasonable for such a project, the remainder be applied to similar affected areas like Tiger Bay, Houston, Agricola, Alexander Village, Industry, Queenstown, Alberttown, Kingston, Kitty etc. The cleaning of these environs, including the Cemetery, should not be seen as a one time obligation. There has to be periodic maintenance that ensures that these places, including Le Repentir, is well kept and tidy. After all we are, as a collective citizenry paying for all of this, and at the very least we should receive satisfaction on how our money is being spent.
Mark A. Benschop
Independent Party
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