Whoever thought that garbage was the main issue in Georgetown and that removing the piles of it that abound every which way and charging litterbugs would restore the city must have had a jolt when Alisha Thomas and her two-year-old daughter fell into a manhole near the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet at Stabroek.
This offending orifice had its cover removed, reportedly by the staff of the KFC outlet, leaving a gaping hole filled with water, grease and filth, among other things. Manholes should not be filled with grease and water, should they? Aren’t these holes to be used when workers need to venture below street level to fix such infrastructure as pipelines?
And manhole covers, which are usually extremely heavy iron disks should only be removed by the competent authority. Whoever removed it should face some sort of sanction. Yesterday, this newspaper reported GWI Public Relations Officer Timothy Austin as saying that GWI had written to the fast food restaurant several times about the issue. “We have written to them before, about two times during the latter part of last year. We are in the process of writing to them again about the incident,” Austin said. In fact, writing letters is not good enough. GWI has recourse to legal action when unauthorised persons commit acts such as these which have the propensity for deadly results, Mr Austin said in his letter to this newspaper, citing the Water and Sewerage Act of 2002.
Fortunately, Ms Thomas and two-year-old Hayley were not seriously injured, but this could have ended tragically.
This is not the first violation of this sort. Manhole covers have been removed in the past, at this and other locations. In some instances, they were permanently removed by unscrupulous persons to be sold to scrap metal dealers. Though the established metal dealers have consistently denied purchasing and dealing in these stolen components, they know, as we all do, that these and other ‘lucrative bargains’ are grabbed up by those interested in making a quick dollar.
But Mr Austin’s letter raised another pertinent issue. He referred to restaurants not installing grease traps and failing to clean them, which would then lead to sewage overflows. He cited more than 7 per week. This is, of course, a public health issue. Sewage overflows should not be taken lightly and ought to be addressed as urgently as possible. More than 7 a week must be a strain on the resources of the GWI and would obviously have an impact on workers addressing other water issues in a timely manner.
This state of affairs is yet another indication of the lawlessness that abounds in Georgetown and the level to which it has sunk. How is it possible that a restaurant can open its doors without having a grease trap installed? How can it be allowed to operate without cleaning same? Whose job is it to ensure that these businesses comply with regulations? Is it the city’s Public Health Department? And if so, why is it not being done?
A look around at the number of mostly fast food restaurants that have sprung up in the city over the past few years would be cause for concern. How many are operating as per regulation? Are they regularly inspected?
Meanwhile, on a related issue, Guyana is well on its way to becoming the fast food capital of the Caribbean. A country once touted as the breadbasket of the Caribbean on account of the wide variety of fresh food it produces, has fallen into the trap of adorning, especially its capital, with fast food joints galore. This is being done in the name of ‘business.’ Sure the city is bustling and young people are gaining employment. But with many of these franchises importing their raw materials, what is the end cost? Are we seeking to rival Trinidad and Tobago’s childhood obesity epidemic? Or perhaps Barbados’s food import bill?
We have already acquired the notoriety of being the country with the filthiest capital in the Caribbean. Those in authority making the decisions that affect all our lives must be aiming for a new record. We wish they would clue us in.
