“Guyana is a land of many promises…broken promises,” a resident of Plastic City at Vreed-en-Hoop on the West Coast Demerara lamented even as residents prepare to go out in their numbers and vote today with the hope that the winning party remembers that they exist.
Plastic City has been in existence for over 30 years now and some who live there have been squatting in the perennially flooded area for decades and have seen no development in the community. While some made it clear that neither the present nor past administrations has done anything for the people who live here, others mentioned that they did receive assistance with regards to housing when the current opposition party was in power.
The community has no potable water while only a handful of persons have access to electricity. However, it must be noted that the area is located on the sea defence reserve, amid the mangroves and in front of the concrete sea defence that protect residents on residential land from the sea, and it is unlawful to settle there.
A section of Plastic City between the mangrove trees.
Bob Mangal has been working the Vreed-en-Hoop/Georgetown speed boat service for the last 17 years. Living in a multi-culture community like Plastic City has both its advantages and disadvantages, he said. Mangal noted that within the last month in the run-up to today’s polls, he has been dealing with racial tensions, more from persons outside of his community. “I worried for my safety…I don’t plan on sending my children them to school this entire week. I don’t know what will happen. Normally we does do about 14 trips a day but we prepare to work about four or five trips if any problem start,” he said.
The man noted too that he has used his rent and water bill monies to purchase enough groceries in case anything goes wrong and businesses are forced to close. “Everybody must come together as one and stop living this racial life. They [current administration] do Georgetown stelling. I never see people changing zinc and cutting it and patching old zinc. I know when you zinc leaking, put on a new zinc but they doing all of this because is elections time but they not doing a good job,” he said.
Mangal’s neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, sat outside with him. He moved to Plastic City before the last elections and said commuting to work every day has never been an issue but within the last week, he has been feeling targeted by persons on his daily journeys. “I travel with speedboat every day, I think it is because of race. Up to this morning I was telling him (Mangal) there was a guy sitting at the stelling and he was shouting [ a derogatory term] and it seem like he meant it for me because he didn’t say anything until I passed by. Is not the young people doing this, is the older folks. I feel like this elections will be the worse. The last elections wasn’t like this. I will be going out to vote,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anacicia Watson, who said she has been living in Plastic City for the last 27 years, noted that not much has been done for her community. “For me, things are normal. I deal with customers on a daily basis, all still remains the same. This is my second year that I will be voting,” Watson stated.
Disconnected
She recalled previous elections when tyres were burnt and roads blocked but is not worried, saying that she intends to send her 12-year-old daughter to school unless something happens that could put her in harm’s way. Since moving there, Watson has been relying on persons living across the canal for water. She noted that there were once two stand pipes but with persons not paying their water rates, the pipes were disconnected. It was said that ministers and other officials from the current and previous administrations visited Plastic City residents, saying that they do not like their current situation and intended to provide them with water but years on, nothing has been done to improve their way of life.
Anacicia shared that during the previous administration, persons were provided house lots but her father didn’t see it important to move from where they were. The woman added that she hopes that whichever party wins, they remember Plastic City. She doesn’t believe they should be allocated house lots – herself and those living alongside her, but noted that for persons living behind them, they should be provided with house lots as they would be flooded during spring tides.
“Man, I think Guyanese need to stop with this nonsense. Whoever goes into power, at the end of the day, we all have to get up and go to work,” Watson said.
Pinky Ganga, who lives in the back part of Plastic City, noted that she is hoping that she could be allocated a house lot. “They say we got to move from here but that’s just a promise every time. Both governments (current and previous administrations) have been promising us but nothing happening,” she declared. The previous administration did provide some of the persons in Plastic City with house lots but according to Ganga, at the time her husband had died and she had used up whatever savings she had to take care of funeral expenses.
Ganga shared that with various ethnicities living there, everyone lives in harmony, elections or no elections. She added though that while she has not been a victim of racial tensions, she is worried for her safety outside of her village.
The woman also noted that after her husband died in 2013, she was receiving public assistance but it has since stopped. “I used to get public assistance for my children but they say since change of government, I should go look for a proper job. Two of them I used to get for because four of them I have. They say because I have someone now, he should be responsible for them but that shouldn’t be,” she said.
Ganga indicated that the current school voucher, which is $2,000 per child, can only buy a uniform and haversack whereas the $10,000 voucher provided by the previous administration could have taken care of her children’s needs. Ganga said that as a domestic worker, it’s far from easy to provide for her children.
Several other persons declined to be interviewed by this newspaper but they did say that they will be voting today and will be heading to the Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary School, where their designated polling station is.
