Dear Editor,
Visiting one of my in-laws in Zeelugt during the past week, I was saddened to hear her moans after receiving her first water bill under this new administration although she’s a pensioner. Like her, many others are faced with the same dilemma but the cries do not stop there. During the day, water is turned off around 10am and turned on in the afternoon after 3pm. At Cornelia Ida, water flowing through their main is switched off around 6pm and switched back on around 6:15am the next day. Most people have to resort to storing water in containers especially cane cutters who leave their houses between 4-5am. At Uitvlugt, the water is switched off after 9pm and switched on back in the following morning. Many of these people don’t have meters but they still have to pay the full amount that is requested by GWI, whilst many without meters get the full 24hrs service paying the same. Before the election I penned a letter commending the pressure that I was getting. Surprisingly after the election, I have had to go back to using a bowl to full a bucket. With all the promises before the election I would have expected better, sadly like many others I am disappointed.
Editor, after five months this present Government has failed to deliver on their promises and instead of admitting their failure, they rewarded themselves a huge salary increase and the President justified this by saying that they gave up better to come and serve this Nation. I would not talk about the method some of them used to attain their position but many of them were earning money in a month that the average man cannot earn in a year and they still gave themselves more although they now enjoy duty-free concessions, free water, electricity, phone bills, security, gasoline, travelling allowances etc. They were the ones going around the country begging voters to give them a chance and now it seems as if the chance they took is to satisfy their needs and not the Nation. They don’t seem capable of fulfilling their promises. The road accidents, robberies, killings, blackouts, corruption at the different agencies still continue, so what changes are we to get with additional bills to foot their luxurious lifestyles?
Finally Editor, recently a survey was published with the results about school dropouts and drug usage amongst our youths. Years before, I wrote a letter citing the high increase and using Zeelugt as an example. To date it still continues and vulnerable youths are being introduced to drugs and sex and crime. No one, organization or Ministry visits that village to offer help, but everyone jumped and cheered when the organization came, spent a huge amount of money to conduct a survey to tell us what we already know without any help. Our legal system needs great improvement, instead of visiting places to tell us about the condition and blaming the previous administration, they should actually do something about it. We already know about the condition, we don’t need a reminder.
In case they haven’t noticed, things were going better under the previous administration. When the late President Desmond Hoyte became president of Guyana, he went all out to make life better for Guyanese and he was praised so much for his effort that people even gave him the name Desmond Persaud but on Election Day they forgot the good things he did and voted his party out of governance. With five months gone already under this administration and no improvement compared to Desmond Hoyte’s record, I doubt if this administration will be given another chance especially with their record so far.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates