Clean-up exercise

Nov 18, 2024 Editorial, News

…Editorial

Kaieteur News-The Government on Saturday spearheaded another nationwide clean-up campaign with the promise that such exercises will be frequent.

It is a laudable effort, led for most part by President Irfaan Ali. Saturday’s exercise saw members of Cabinet, the Private Sector and the Joint Services collaborating to execute the campaign. Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill was quoted by the Department of Public Information that the government employs small contractors to clean main access roads, drains, and weed parapets two to three times a month to ensure effective water flow and a clean environment.

The charge after the clean-up as always is the case was for citizens to embrace a culture of cleanliness. There is indeed a need for a change in the culture of people. For perhaps too long in Guyana, people have grown accustomed to dumping their waste in any location. In rural Guyana, before garbage collection by the authorities, people learnt to place their garbage in a pile in their yards.

The enterprising converted this garbage pile to compost and sprouted excellent crops. Most simply burnt the piles when these became too large. But that could have been done in the rural areas. Houses were far apart and the smoke rarely posed a problem. When a neighbour complained the person setting the fire simply doused. Most homes these days have garbage bins and people would dispose of their refuse for the collectors. Scraps of paper that littered the yard were swept up and disposed of. However, these same people who would keep their premises clean would resort to littering any other location. A most disgusting site would be to be driving behind a vehicle and see garbage come hurtling through the window and onto the streets. This is often the norm. The result is that very soon litter is scattered across the streets and into the drains.

The culture is to ignore the bins placed specifically for garbage collection. The seawalls become a mess on Sundays because those who gather there maintain the culture of dumping litter any which way except in the bins. And there is no one to correct the other. In other countries where the penalty for littering is severe, people walk with their garbage bags and they ensure that waste is placed in them. Picnic scenes look almost pristine at the end of the outing because those who attend have undergone a change in culture. The very people who would readily litter in Guyana know that they cannot in the other country. There is a municipal court but the people prosecuted are few when one considers the volume of litter and garbage. If the culture is not going to be changed willingly then apply the laws. Some citizens pay very little heed to the imperative that we ought to keep our environment clean and unpolluted. We boast about the proliferation of fast-food outlets as “development,” but yet drop or throw the Styrofoam cups and coated cardboard boxes, in which they insist on serving their offerings, onto the ground or into drains, much as we used to do with our banana skins in the “old days.”

It would not have appeared that we have insisted on our own development. Yet, we all know, either from our own experiences or through the movies, that people in “developed” societies do not just drop their garbage at their feet. There are consequences. But the sad reality of our situation is that we seem incapable of appreciating those consequences, even when they impact on us personally — as when we are faced with flooding.

As a people, if we expect to develop to a stage where flooding is to become a thing of the past, we will have to pull up our socks and rectify our shortcomings. Because of our unique topography, where we are a veritable basin bounded by a “backdam” (to keep out the conservancies of water) and a seawall (to keep out the Atlantic Ocean), even the best designed and executed civil engineering plan will be constantly challenged. Yes, we must be vigilant and insist that “the authorities” execute their mandate and excavate and clear the drainage canals, but, surely, it is not too much to ask ourselves that we develop the small discipline needed not to contribute to the creation of that same blockage. Flood prevention, like charity, must begin at home.

(Clean-up exercise)

clean environment., Editorial, nationwide clean-up, resident Irfaan Ali.

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Clean-up exercise

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