Dear Editor,
Tiger Bay has been an age-old concern since I was born, and now I am an elderly person.
This community has had a notorious reputation even though it has produced reputable persons.
Successive governments since colonial times have been dealing with Tiger Bay, but maybe not in a holistic manner. A few years ago, an effort was made to give the residents land in the country area across on the West Coast of Demerara, but that was as far as it got.
This area is a slum and an eyesore in Georgetown, and a virtual national disgrace. We are planning to modernize our city and it is hoped that a final decision will be made about the area.
Meanwhile on Sunday, June 26 someone witnessed a robbery on a tourist in Main Street by a young man from Tiger Bay, one of the many over the years. In some cases the perpetrators escaped, but in others they were apprehended.
Giving handouts of kites at Easter and hampers at Christmas has been the norm of assisting persons in the Bay, and that is not enough. The Ministry of Social Security should be pivotal in dealing with this conundrum. We need to have the building of low-cost houses for the poor ‒ both old and young ‒ at a rental. The scheme houses proved to be a fiasco because tenants were not paying their rent. This time around persons should be told that failure to pay rent will result in eviction.
Let us have a collaborative effort by government, private investors, donors, both local and foreign, to deal with our chronic housing problem. To believe that every Guyanese can be a home owner is a complete fallacy, for there is nowhere in this world everyone owns his own home.
Yours faithfully
Malcom Maynard
