Dear Editor,
I would like to bring to your attention your front- page observation with photos of out of service public telephones in the Vreed-en-Hoop area (SN 21/11/2006). I also direct your attention to your follow up story (SN 24/11/2006) also with photos where you, quite correctly, took credit for the speedy action in removing the defective apparatus by GT & T. However I thought that in this instance you were being a little unfair to GT & T and further that you should have elaborated on this observation covering all angles of the story as this in itself outlines a wider problem in our country that we so willingly turn a blind eye.
My observation on this matter is that, and the phone company can concur, a high percentage of these out of service public telephones are in that state due to malicious damage rather than technical difficulties. The latter can be easily fixed, returning the phones to a situation of normalcy. I must point out to you that these public phones are card based not cash based so robbery is definitely ruled out. In pursuit of good service we may be inclined to chastise the telephone company in these situations. However we, the public, must take at least part of the blame in some instances. If we allow such activities/ individuals to infiltrate our communities/ neighbourhood/country then we shoot ourselves in the foot in the long run. At the community level these incidents can escalate into harassment/ high crime rendering the community helpless and driving living standards and property values down.
How can our country move forward into modernization if our culture does not change where we can unite as one Guyana and are willing to take ownership for our neighbourhood/community/country. In these situations if need be we have to be cruel to be kind, we need to institute harsh penalties for these “little” crimes that we have grown to take for granted. How can we now convince GT & T that cash based public phones, like many of our tourist oriented Caribbean neighbors, are a necessity given the tourism drive and the impending ICC CWC 2007? Or that we need more such phones in every area when the company is at its wits end trying to deal with the issues of repairing those mechanisms in existence? Do we realize that the money and man-hours spent on these issues takes away from the expansion budget and deadlines? Seeing the level of vandalism, what would potential investors think of Guyana as an investment opportunity? This is a critical time for Guyana, a chance to move from behind the shadow of the Jim Jones Affair/ Jonestown and really be seen for our worth on the international scene. However aside from making fast money in a short period, have many of our citizens really bought into promoting Guyana, preserving our image, sustaining and realizing our tourism potential? I say this for a number of reasons and I will list a few for your notice:
1. A few years ago we were able to get street/ road signs around Georgetown which were sponsored by the business community. However today many of these signs are damaged/ destroyed by vandals. Let me hasten to assure you that these vandals are not always hardened criminals. In fact in many cases these acts are perpetrated by our school-aged or young population.
2. A few years ago the M & CC placed public garbage bins around Georgetown obviously to curb the littering problems in the city. However these garbage bins were also vandalized. In some instances these bins were completely destroyed and in other cases they were damaged or removed (stolen- for what purpose? Where else can they be used).
3. We recently saw a modernized public building opened- The City Mall. There are garbage bins placed strategically on the floors but we still see our citizens dropping waste on the floors. I can only speak for the gents washrooms, but again we see our citizens indiscriminately using the facilities.
4. Currently there are lots of clean up campaigns in Georgetown. Drains/ trenches/ alley ways/ canals are being cleared. However in many cases the benefits of these efforts are not realized because citizens continue to dump refuse and throw recyclable materials in these same drains/ trenches/ alley ways/ canals.
5. Traffic lights have suffered the same fate in the past. We are soon scheduled to upgrade the Traffic Lights. Given what is being outlined in this letter I ask a question- how long are they going to last?
The success of many projects and operations will be shortlived if there is no mechanism in place to ensure sustainable development as the endeavor will be an eventual failure, e.g. if we get traffic lights in January and by December a high percentage is vandalized or destroyed the endeavour in effect has failed! After all the monies spent and the time invested we still will not have the full benefit of working traffic lights and in many cases we may still be in debt to an international financial organization for the cost of the project.
Given all of the above it begs the question: Why haven’t we taken an example from tourist oriented Caribbean neighbours who have instituted heavy fines and jail terms for damaging public and private property, littering, defacing signs/ landmarks, etc. all in an effort to preserve their image, culture and to ensure their hard earned tax dollars are well spent/ utilized. Turning a blind eye to this problem will only serve to embarrass us and to place us permanently behind the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
With all our internal social, economic and political challenges we are finding severe difficulty formulating a true Guyanese culture that signifies unity- one Guyana (no link to any political slogan). This is being fueled by the Road DJs who have take over our airwaves who are promoting North American cultures and brands in our country. E.g. we now have dances, sports and parties branded as “Summer Jams/ Spring break/(since when did our weather patterns change) Halloween Party” and some businesses have now capitalized on this to promote Thanksgiving in Guyana. It is painfully obvious that for the most these goodly gentlemen are not able to differentiate between a party/open air session/ dancehall DJ and a music programme on National radio/ television. It puzzles me that no authoritative body has attempted to streamline these programmes organizing them in such a way that while music and entertainment is the ultimate feature, there must be some educational or intellectual guidance to be imparted in our young people. I am noting that our young people- the leaders of tomorrow are their largest fans. So where is our culture and heritage going?
Yours faithfully,
Fibyan Denny
