Altough City Council is responsible for maintaining the Le Repentir Cemetery, Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green says it would be unable to do so once the government-led clean-up of the cemetery is completed.
Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker had indicated earlier in the week that the City Council would be responsible for maintaining the cemetery after the clean-up, which is still ongoing as part of the governments multi-million dollar Clean-up Guyana Project.
But Chase-Green, when contacted, said that though it is the council’s responsibility, it is not equipped to take it up.
Chase-Green told Stabroek News that she visited the cemetery to see the works in progress last Friday and while there the Sexton of the Le Repentir Cemetery related that proper maintenance of the cemetery requires at least ten workers and brush cutters, among other tools.
Additionally, she said that proposals for the maintenance of the cemetery were suggested to the City Engineer’s Depart-ment and the council’s administration, but nothing has been put in place. She further complained of the fact that the Market and Public Health and Cemetery committees, respectively, were not meeting.
Chase-Green added that she called the office of the Town Clerk on Wednesday to find out if the Cemetery Committee would be meeting to deal with the maintenance of the cemetery. She said she got no positive answer. “There are important health issues to be discussed,” Chase-Green lamented.
“We appreciate what is being done,” she said but she pointed out that the cemetery still had problems, such as clogged drains and roadways in need of repairs.
Even though she could not give a cost for the monthly maintenance, she said it would be cheaper than maintenance over a longer period. Further-more, when asked why the sexton is without workers, she explained that the positions were once filled but when the workers retired, on one else applied.
When contacted for a comment on why the Cemetery Committee or the Public Health Commit-tee have not been meeting, as well as enquiries of the status of proposals for the
maintenance of the cemetery, acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba told this publication that she was in a meeting and could not speak. Later in the day she was contacted again and restated that she was in a meeting and could not speak with this newspaper.
The spraying of weeds in the cemetery that are inaccessible by grass cutters commenced on Tuesday, however de-silting of drains as well as the grading of the internal streets of the cemetery and removal of shrubs are still to be done, Permanent Secretary of the Local Government Ministry Collin Croal said earlier in the week.
