Introduction:
The President is getting fame around the world for talking about protecting the planet with our Guyana, yet he waits until the garbage takes over the city with the largest population to start playing politics. SN editorial on Sept 20th called it blackmail. How could we save the planet with LCDS and we can’t even save our own country from the stink and diseases that have been around us over the last month.
There are many issues with the city’s administration, but we have not had local elections since 1994, and that is the price we pay. The city is held hostage in political battles and the threat is for an Interim Management Committee (IMC) when as a democracy we should have elections. There needs to be reform from taxation to valuations, to constituent based elections.
For a President who lives in the city, and who travels the world begging for billions in debt relief and gets it, to wait until the entire city is covered with garbage to advance a few million dollars of our tax money to pay the contractors is criminal. Imagine the President will travel to Kuwait later in the year and ask them for debt relief of over US$60Million. Why can’t we practice some goodwill right here at home before we ask others for goodwill? The government magically found some funds to assist the city council just before the president was leaving Guyana for his most recent trip which incidentally is on the environment.
The cCentral government and City Hall are now going to continue the fight among themselves now that the garbage issue seems temporarily resolved until next quarter. The economic impact on businesses, the consumers and the citizens is significant. It is like the government looks down on us the citizens and laughs that we have to live this way. It will take months and additional expense to bring the city back in order. If the President used to be in Guyana and go around meeting the people of the city, he would have realized the magnitude of the problem weeks ago.
If the PPP government was truly interested in protecting the planet and begging for LCDS dollars, it would have had the common courtesy to help solve this issue prior to it becoming a health, environmental, and aesthetic nightmare. Plus apart from the other bills we the citizens had to find extra money to buy chemicals to spray our yards, and pay for medical bills
because of ill health associated with the uncollected trash further polluting Georgetown while still paying 16% VAT. Where is the common sense in all of this?
Turning our trash into energy
I have to give the Mayor credit for this. He solicited a company to come in and evaluate the possibility of turning our trash into a small energy project. It was a good proposal and would have been self funded. The government refused to grant approval and let the project die. This is the result of the petty, vindictive, non-developmental politics which the PPP government is expert at. Each of us produces several pounds of garbage per day and new innovations can turn our waste into energy. Research indicates that the process of converting landfill gas into energy is relatively simple. A series of wells sunk into a landfill collect the gas generated by the rotting organic garbage, which can then be used to fuel internal combustion engines and boilers, and be piped to institutions and homes for cooking and heating purposes. This landfill gas (methane) can be used to substitute part of our imports of propane (natural) gas. The city could generate a revenue stream from what we are throwing away, and can then have more money to help provide services for the residents and help with its other expenditure.
Protecting our environment:
We have all seen the expensive commercials on the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the many mobile text messages we receive, to the high gloss marketing materials, costing much more than one month of garbage collection in the city. Where are our priorities? A group of government officials are in New York this week at the Earth Conference, while we in Georgetown and other parts of Guyana are inundated with trash.
There are reports of a move afoot for the President to be nominated for the Nobel Prize on the Environment. If he is being assessed on the basis of the Guyanese environment then he certainly can wish that prize goodbye.
The economic impact:
Many businesses have had to hire private contractors to haul away their garbage in order for them to stay operational. We need a complete overhaul of the taxation system in the city. It is unfair to the city for a business that had one floor and now has five floors to pay the same rates and taxes as they did prior to their expansion. This complete overhaul of the taxation system in the city needs to be part of a comprehensive tax reform program that includes a review of national taxes such as VAT and duties on motor vehicles.
The system is unfair as the central government receives most of our national tax revenue, lotto receipts and international loans, but the capital city does not get its fair share in order to properly manage the services which it has to provide. The city and other local government organs need to be allowed to raise more revenue from taxes and by fees for services to fund their operations. There also needs to be a fair mechanism for local government bodies to get a share of national tax revenue to fund their operations, and to manage their operations without the nanny government intruding into their affairs.
Conclusion:
The power of our garbage demonstrated the misuse of power by our ruling politicians. Guyanese need a government which allows local government bodies to manage their operations free from interference, and raise revenues to help pay for the services they provide. Of course there have to be adequate measures in place to prevent fraud and corruption. This requires a new approach to governance in Guyana. Can Guyanese make that happen? Together we must make it happen! Until next time, “Roop”
Send comments to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.comIntroduction:
The President is getting fame around the world for talking about protecting the planet with our Guyana, yet he waits until the garbage takes over the city with the largest population to start playing politics. SN editorial on Sept 20th called it blackmail. How could we save the planet with LCDS and we can’t even save our own country from the stink and diseases that have been around us over the last month.
There are many issues with the city’s administration, but we have not had local elections since 1994, and that is the price we pay. The city is held hostage in political battles and the threat is for an Interim Management Committee (IMC) when as a democracy we should have elections. There needs to be reform from taxation to valuations, to constituent based elections.
For a President who lives in the city, and who travels the world begging for billions in debt relief and gets it, to wait until the entire city is covered with garbage to advance a few million dollars of our tax money to pay the contractors is criminal. Imagine the President will travel to Kuwait later in the year and ask them for debt relief of over US$60Million. Why can’t we practice some goodwill right here at home before we ask others for goodwill? The government magically found some funds to assist the city council just before the president was leaving Guyana for his most recent trip which incidentally is on the environment.
The cCentral government and City Hall are now going to continue the fight among themselves now that the garbage issue seems temporarily resolved until next quarter. The economic impact on businesses, the consumers and the citizens is significant. It is like the government looks down on us the citizens and laughs that we have to live this way. It will take months and additional expense to bring the city back in order. If the President used to be in Guyana and go around meeting the people of the city, he would have realized the magnitude of the problem weeks ago.
If the PPP government was truly interested in protecting the planet and begging for LCDS dollars, it would have had the common courtesy to help solve this issue prior to it becoming a health, environmental, and aesthetic nightmare. Plus apart from the other bills we the citizens had to find extra money to buy chemicals to spray our yards, and pay for medical bills
because of ill health associated with the uncollected trash further polluting Georgetown while still paying 16% VAT. Where is the common sense in all of this?
Turning our trash into energy
I have to give the Mayor credit for this. He solicited a company to come in and evaluate the possibility of turning our trash into a small energy project. It was a good proposal and would have been self funded. The government refused to grant approval and let the project die. This is the result of the petty, vindictive, non-developmental politics which the PPP government is expert at. Each of us produces several pounds of garbage per day and new innovations can turn our waste into energy. Research indicates that the process of converting landfill gas into energy is relatively simple. A series of wells sunk into a landfill collect the gas generated by the rotting organic garbage, which can then be used to fuel internal combustion engines and boilers, and be piped to institutions and homes for cooking and heating purposes. This landfill gas (methane) can be used to substitute part of our imports of propane (natural) gas. The city could generate a revenue stream from what we are throwing away, and can then have more money to help provide services for the residents and help with its other expenditure.
Protecting our environment:
We have all seen the expensive commercials on the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the many mobile text messages we receive, to the high gloss marketing materials, costing much more than one month of garbage collection in the city. Where are our priorities? A group of government officials are in New York this week at the Earth Conference, while we in Georgetown and other parts of Guyana are inundated with trash.
There are reports of a move afoot for the President to be nominated for the Nobel Prize on the Environment. If he is being assessed on the basis of the Guyanese environment then he certainly can wish that prize goodbye.
The economic impact:
Many businesses have had to hire private contractors to haul away their garbage in order for them to stay operational. We need a complete overhaul of the taxation system in the city. It is unfair to the city for a business that had one floor and now has five floors to pay the same rates and taxes as they did prior to their expansion. This complete overhaul of the taxation system in the city needs to be part of a comprehensive tax reform program that includes a review of national taxes such as VAT and duties on motor vehicles.
The system is unfair as the central government receives most of our national tax revenue, lotto receipts and international loans, but the capital city does not get its fair share in order to properly manage the services which it has to provide. The city and other local government organs need to be allowed to raise more revenue from taxes and by fees for services to fund their operations. There also needs to be a fair mechanism for local government bodies to get a share of national tax revenue to fund their operations, and to manage their operations without the nanny government intruding into their affairs.
Conclusion:
The power of our garbage demonstrated the misuse of power by our ruling politicians. Guyanese need a government which allows local government bodies to manage their operations free from interference, and raise revenues to help pay for the services they provide. Of course there have to be adequate measures in place to prevent fraud and corruption. This requires a new approach to governance in Guyana. Can Guyanese make that happen? Together we must make it happen! Until next time, “Roop”
Send comments to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.com
