Dear Editor,
It was a scene right out of a Sci-Fi Channel movie. I was stormed early one evening by mosquitoes just by the Fort Canje area, mere seconds away from the New Amsterdam town centre. These things were all over me – a thick swarm. I had to get out of the area and quickly too! Over the past couple of days this is what life during the evenings and I dare say during the hot sunny days in Berbice, particularly New Amsterdam and its immediate environs, have become. There is an invasion of these blood-sucking insects. There may soon be an outbreak of some mosquito-borne disease in this town and even in the rural areas of East and West Canje, etc, if nothing is done about the invasion.
With the current dry season to last for several more weeks, there would seem to be no end in sight. These guys will be with us probably until mid-April; there’s simply no telling. Our efficient authorities are not saying anything. I hear from residents of New Amsterdam that some fogging is being done, but they are of the opinion that the fogging machine is antiquated and that it only services a portion of the town. I have to sympathize with the residents.
The current insect invasion is indicative of the fact that there are forests of bushes in this township and the municipality seems not to give a damn! Poor Guyana indeed. If it’s not blackouts, it’s mosquitoes and now water shortages.
This is one of the most inefficient group of people I have seen running a town. Just imagine, this town formed a relationship with the Texan city of Midland in the USA in the late 1990s. Mayor Burns (then mayor) visited New Amsterdam (I remember him visiting NAMS and speaking to students, signing and so), and the then Mayor and he spoke of a lasting relationship between the two towns which was supposed to have lasting and beneficial effects for the citizens of both.
The Esplanade ballfield was renamed Midland Texas Ballfield by Mayor Burns and it still stands today (of course the sign has been washed away). But this is the kind of incompetence I am talking about. Should the present administration of town councillors and their mayor have preserved this vital link with Midland, maybe, just maybe things might have been better in this dilapidated town which is known for the huge amounts of solid waste it is being littered with day in and day out. Here we had an overseas-based community pledging their friendship to this municipality, but I presumed with the change of mayors afterwards, the link was severed for reasons unknown. This town has been destroyed literally.
Local government elections surely cannot come quickly enough.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran