The feverish attempts to get everything in order for Cricket World Cup are evidence of a significant flaw in successive governments running this country: the lack of attention paid to maintaining things. Why maintain things? Two very good reasons are because they will retain their aesthetic value and because if they are well kept they will not need replacing often. But there are other reasons that come to mind, particularly now that the rehabilitation of the avenues and the laying of cables for traffic lights are causing traffic disruptions. Clearly, if these things were being done as they needed doing, there would be less confusion now. Instead of relaying, redoing and repairing, efforts would have been directed at sprucing up. Less money would have to be spent as well.
Road repair work is another area that has been referred to in this column in the past. Potholes are not fixed as they appear. They are left to become craters and then soon the entire road needs work involving millions of dollars.
These are the areas that are obvious. What of those that are not? For instance, government buildings and their fixtures and fittings; how well are these maintained, if they are maintained at all? Is money set aside in the national budget each year for the upkeep of buildings and fixtures? And if so, is this money used and how?
An example of poor maintenance is the Umana Yana. Not the benab itself, but its surroundings. The grass at the front is kept cut short and the shrubs and flowers growing around the circumference of the building look like they get some attention. But there is a disused pool at the back that is a total disgrace. It contains dirty water and on some days has objects like Styrofoam boxes and plastic drink bottles floating in it. The water is stagnant and must be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The pool is fenced around and there is a rickety gate that leads to it. But even worse, there is a tap in the compound of the Umana Yana which drains directly into that pool.
Then there are the toilet facilities. Not much if anything at all has been done to those toilets since they were built. They work, but they are barely functional. In most of them the seats are missing. The sinks in that area are so stained that they look dirty even when they are clean. At some point, these toilets and sinks would have been at their best, but obviously, over time and with use they would need replacing: nothing lasts forever.
Care and attention is obviously spent on the benab, but what is the use of having a great-looking Umana Yana with a stinking pool and disgraceful toilets at the back? The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is directly responsible for the Umana Yana, but these things could not have fallen into their current state overnight. The deterioration would have begun years ago and as a result of a lack of maintenance the current rot has stepped in. And it would have cost far less to fix this situation in say 1997, than it would today.
A check at other public buildings in the country would no doubt reveal more of the same. A few years ago a similar situation existed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri; the toilets were among the most disreputable in the country. With the improvements at the airport, however, this situation has been arrested somewhat.
Over the years it seems successive governments have failed to understand that having dirty and dysfunctional buildings, fixtures and fittings have an influence on the psyche of the population. People tend to think that if everything is ramshackle then they do not have to make an effort to keep it in any good condition. The removal years ago of the City Council workers who used to sweep the streets and clean the drains for instance, has now resulted in what appears to be an irreversible situation. Some people, having got used to dirty surroundings will perhaps need a miracle to stop littering. Not that the current efforts should stop. No they must continue, that miracle might just be the Cricket World Cup.
