Dear Editor,
It is indeed with deep sadness that I pen this epistle in denouncing unequivocally and unapologetically, the recent unwise decision of the rudderless Mayor & City Council to enter into an agreement with the Smart City Solutions for the implementation of a parking meter programme in Georgetown.
This is nothing short of highway robbery, as there were no public consultations, no feasibility studies and not least, there was a flagrant violation of the country’s own public procurement legislation. To add insult to injury, even the recommendations of the Minister of Finance and the Attorney General were ignored. The Minister of Communities has been sadly reduced to the role of a messenger between the Granger Regime and the upstarts at City Hall. Nowhere else in the world is there such a circus maximus.
The public spirited citizens of Georgetown and the business community must be roundly congratulated for taking up the mantle of leadership in answering that clarion call to duty by banding themselves together under the valiant Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM).
The MAPM has demonstrated beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with, for they have awakened in us all the important attributes of working for the common good and a strong sense of civic responsibility.
If those in City Hall are under the illusion that the MAPM is going away anytime soon then they are in for a rude awakening. This is a noble movement for social justice and for the first time in our recent history this parking meter fiasco has brought together so many Guyanese of all races, creeds, classes, political beliefs and sexual orientations, all united by the common goal of standing up against Big Brother and saying loudly in one common voice: No suspension, full revocation. Their voices will not be drowned out because they have right on their side. What have Mayor Chase-Green, Royston King or Oscar Clarke got in their defence?
The diaspora stands in unwavering support of the MAPM, for their struggle is a just one. Mahatma Gandhi said that poverty is the greatest form of violence, and Martin Luther King Jr said that to stay silent in the face of wrong is to be complicit. It is time for the President of Guyana to truly emulate the many great figures of history that he is fond of quoting by squarely renouncing this parking meter deal which reeks of authoritarianism. The parking meter deal is a death sentence for our beloved Garden City and its proud and courageous citizens.
Where is the transparency, accountability and good governance we all fought for? Has President Granger forgotten the great hope reposed in him by the people of this nation when he ascended office?
Yours faithfully,
Mike Singh
