Dear Editor,
In 2006, I wrote a letter asking, among other things, why it is that Guyanese have allowed the Le Repentir to deteriorate to its current despicable state (‘Le Repentir is in a disgraceful state,’ SN 25.3.06). Is it because we have lost our collective sense of decency and we have given up on the once high standards to which we subscribed? Is it because anything goes in this madness, a madness that is both pervasive and insidious, eating away at the last vestiges of our collective self-respect? What a shame Guyana, what a shame!
Those who only last year said a final farewell to loved ones, find it difficult one year later to locate the burial sites where their loved ones have been interred. On the best of days, the Le Repentir is impassable. On its worst, a cancellation is not a reprieve, but an extension of anguish and anxiety − an anguish because of circumstances the bereaved have no control over, and an anxiety because rains may delay final rites unless high or dry ground can be found at some other burial site along the coast. What a disgrace Guyana, for even the simplest things we can no longer do well.
In my previous letter, I wrote that the canals, which form the northern and southern boundaries of the cemetery, including the inter-locking side trenches, are clogged with grass and all sorts of debris and unwanted material, as well as plastic containers. Bush is everywhere and grass pathways are everywhere unusable. Workers do not have the tools and safety gear; they are short-staffed, overworked and underpaid. This is a terrible indictment against anyone who is an elected official and has direct and indirect responsibility for the welfare and wellbeing of these workers. This should not be in the land of Critchlow.
What is equally troubling is that a good shower of rain on the dilapidated office building where the burial records are kept, and the loss of a few senior staff will result in a serious problem of not being able to find where family members, relatives and friends are interred. No less distressing is the garbage site on the eastern side. Dumping must stop, if that has not happened already. Leave the Le Repentir for its original purpose, unless we now view the two activities, the burial of garbage and the burial of our deceased, as being one and the same thing. What ignominy Guyana!
Some would say there is no money to fix this problem. I would argue that money is there, for since the President’s Youth Choice Initiative burned through and buried hundred of millions of dollars in non-viable and very expensive non-projects for which we have nothing to show, some of the lotto money should be used to rehabilitate the Le Repentir. The answer here is to create a sufficiently large endowment fund with the Lotto money and use the interest earned to meet the expenses of the cemetery using a well-structured and accountable system. Can we do it? Yes, we can!
Finally, since the probability is very high that almost every Guyanese will have at least one relative or extended family member or a friend entombed there, we all have a shared responsibility to make sure we get this right. Otherwise, we are all condemned by our own non-responsive behaviour and our own secular paralysis. Do the right thing, Guyana!
Yours faithfully,
C. Kenrick Hunte