The City Constabulary has been arresting persons who dump garbage indiscriminately in Georgetown. So far for 2013, a total of 269 persons have been fined for littering and illegal dumping of garbage in George-town.
A statement from Clean & Green Guyana/ Guyenterprise said that this was revealed by Chief Constable Andrew Foo on Tuesday in an interview.
According to Foo, arrests are made when offenders are caught in the act of littering or dumping by constables. Any citizen who witnesses dumping
can also make a report. In such cases, he said, they are called eyewitnesses and they would be required to give a statement.
He noted that constables would use their judgement whether to caution or fine persons, depending on the size of their litter.
Foo explained the laws that govern the institution of these fines. He quoted from the Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:07, section 277 4 C – which stated that anybody who throws litter on the Council’s road must be arrested and fined; and the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act Chapter 8:02, which referred to minor offences committed, giving constables the power to arrest anyone who litters or dumps refuse improperly.
The fine for any magnitude of littering or dumping is $10,000 or an alternative of three months’ imprisonment, community service or any other measure the presiding magistrate sees fit for the offender.
The Chief Constable said that although they have been addressing the issue of enforcement for solid waste management aggressively, the department was severely constrained due to limited human resources.
He said that in terms of authorized strength, some 316 ranks would be necessary to efficiently carry out the constabulary’s mandate but it was currently working with only 170 ranks to monitor markets and the other commercial areas.
The Chief Constable explained that at times ranks would stake out common dumping sites to try to catch habitual defaulters but noted that unfortunately this inevitably results in them shifting to other locations to dump.
At a recent public awareness workshop held by Guyenterprise, the Chief Constable had also raised the issue of the lack of mobility for the constabulary. He noted that there was no functioning vehicle for the constabulary to carry out its daily duties.
Foo bemoaned, “For us to respond to reports that are made, there’s a need for ranks to be mobile, we cannot have ranks out there on the ground and if they are expected to arrest persons, there’s no means of transportation to get to the area where the report was made and then to arrest the person and move them to the station.”
Foo said despite the lack of resources, the city constabulary had been active in prosecuting persons and placing them before the courts for littering and dumping.
‘Clean & Green for a Better Guyana’ is the Community Participation and Public Awareness Programme facilitated by Guyenterprise for the Inter American Bank-financed Georgetown Solid Waste Management Programme of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.
