Dear Editor,
Because I needed surgery, my daughter who lives in Onderneeming, W.B.D, invited me to stay with her for a few weeks. To get into the Scheme you drive down the West Bank Demerara road as far as Goed Fortuin and turn onto the Parfaite Harmonie ‘New Road’. I was amused when driving down this roadway, I saw vehicles engaging in what seemed to be a computer game. Vehicles were turning out of their lane into the opposite lane and then turning back into their lane, sometimes barely avoiding collision. On observation, I realised that all of this was caused by potholes in the roadway. Drivers going into Parfaite along this road need to learn the art of zigzag driving. You zig out of your lane into the opposite lane and then zig back into your lane before colliding. It calls for a lot of skill and might even be introduced at the next Olympics if the Guyana Olympics Association makes representation. My amusement turned into horror when we got into the area known as Onderneeming. Here a lot of the roads consisted of patches of water and larger patches of land. When I was a young man I worked along the stretch of the Essequibo River between Anarika and Bootakari. In the dry season the river was so low that there were patches of deep water and many sandbanks with caimans basking on the sandbanks. This called for skillful navigation. Here in Onderneeming, skillful navigation is also needed. The only things missing are the caimans. When the sun shines here the water dries up, but sadly the craters remain. Roads were never built in this part of the scheme. When in government, APNU had allocated a sum of money the build them, but apparently, the money grew wings and flew away. I was informed that when the PPP came into power, Mr. Croal, the Minister of Housing, visited the area and saw no reason to build these roads. This is not a case of repairing roads but a case of building roads. People are encouraged to go into debt and build nice homes and then the ministry fails to keep its promise to build the necessary roads. GPL has done its part. There is power. GWI has done its part. There is water. The Ministry of Housing has failed miserably. It makes no sense to talk of building new schemes when the existing ones are not properly serviced. No one seems to know who is in charge. Some say the Ministry of Housing. Some say the NDC. Only the Father knows. I couldn’t help laughing out loud when standing on the veranda. Two of our neighbours’ ducks were gliding around and ducking their heads in a pool of water on the road. We may laugh, but I always say ‘laugh story fuh small bai (or politicians?) ah death to crappo’, and oh! How many poor crapauds live in Onderneeming. If he cares, President Ali can investigate, rectify, and regulate.
Sincerely,
E.C. Lobert.