DESERVING BETTER

Sep 04, 2015 Editorial

The partial cleaning up of Georgetown for Presidential Granger’s inauguration ceremony was an enlightened moment but the social decay which is evident today reflects a loss of dignity and pride. There is clear evidence of garbage being piled-up in the city again and this is a complete failure on the part of the administration which has criticized the PPP regime for the stench in the city.
Although there has been a change in government, garbage is everywhere in Georgetown and its environs. The disregard for the welfare of the masses has reached crisis proportions. It is clear that even though the garbage pile-up is of grave concern, there is still not even a semblance of any broad, structured plan to help the nation recover from what has become a chronic national problem.
Not only is garbage piling up in the city and its environs, but also the public infrastructure, especially the health care facilities, is crumbling. It cannot even provide basic services for the people for any type of ailments. This is a rather crude experience for the people who voted for change.
The public hospitals and other medical facilities in the country have serious service limitations of one kind or another, whether with bed capacity, shortages of medication, equipment failures or basic medical supplies. Insufficient beds continue to have a numbing effect on the sick, especially those with chronic ailments who need specialized surgical care at the hospitals.
They have been unable to access the necessary services needed to cure their ailments because routine emergencies have almost always dictate who occupies the very limited amount of beds at the hospitals.
As if this was not bad enough, it is very sad that an 11-month-old infant had to endure pain and suffering for almost a month with a broken syringe needle in his buttocks. A country that cannot take proper care of its babies is doomed. This is the good services that the government can boast about at the public hospitals? Is this a propaganda exploit?
There are also several other public infrastructure problems such as clogged drains and waterways, open manholes and broken kokers in Georgetown and in the rural areas. It seems that a large segment of people have simply given up on maintaining their communities.
It should be no surprise that a sprinkle of rain has often resulted in floods throughout most of the country. Having a dirty city is one thing, but it is another to allow it to evolve into one in which criminal activities are a daily occurrence. Is Guyana seriously aspiring for First World status? Surely, not anytime soon.
It is known that qualified and skilled personnel are in decline in Guyana, therefore the APNU+AFC government must seek such services and skills in the diaspora.
The economy is in a tailspin and the opposition is waiting to pounce on the government if it tries to sugar-coat its now pronounced legacy of a declining GDP growth rate. The people need hope to spur them on to contribute to the process of national and human development. They need motivation and emotional incentives to help rebuild the country from the ground level.
Many continue to live an undignified life and this has bred contempt for the system and order in the country. There is a deep socio-economic problem that must be addressed thoroughly before it becomes a most undesirable phenomenon across the nation. It cannot be swept under the carpet as has been done previously, resulting in the population becoming generally more disappointed due to the neglect by the authorities.
The people deserve better, and they will either get it through the will of the government or the will of themselves. They will be the judge and jury of the change.

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