The Government, the Joint Services, the Private Sector Commission (PSC), citizens and others who turned out on Saturday and yesterday to clean up the capital city must be applauded. This effort was conceived by President Ali and it has undoubtedly provided relief to the citizens of Georgetown who have become inured to the chronic dumping of garbage, weed-choked waterways and the desecration of the few remaining green spaces in the city.
Twenty-five sites around the city were scoured including Drury Lane, Cemetery Road, Hadfield, Sussex, Princes, Smythe and D’Urban streets; Regent, Robb, Church, Camp and Sheriff streets. The only sour note during the proceedings came unbelievably from the Chief Citizen of Georgetown. Mayor Ubraj Narine on Friday called for an opposition boycott of the cleanup campaign. He provided as his rationale, the attitude of the government towards the Mayor and City Council and other local councils that are led by the opposition where he said there has been a bid to deprive them of financial and other resources.
He further charged that the PPP/C government continues to exploit the City Council’s challenges for purely political reasons. He then went on to argue that the government had no interest in local democracy and appeared to be undermining the opposition-controlled councils in order to remove them and appoint interim management committees. No matter his concerns, it is ludicrous and politically immature for the Mayor to have sought a boycott of the cleanup rather than to seek some role for the council in the process. That this insensible statement was uttered at a PNCR press conference and in the presence of its new leader is also disturbing. Perhaps its only compare was the 2010 statement by then Minister of Local Government, Kellawan Lall who said he would be glad for a health crisis in the city as it would provide a good reason for the removal of the council.
Now that the cleanup is over, what’s next? As the SN editorial of January 13th, 2022 stated in part “A one-off politically expedient ‘massive cleanup’ will only last so long. Georgetown needs constant maintenance to ensure its status as ‘garden city’ – that includes scheduled weekly cleaning and clearing of garbage and monthly desilting of drains and canals. This requires huge outlays of funds which must come from the correct amount of taxes paid into the city’s coffers; a concept that the PSC must ensure all its members accept and follow”.
As useful as this two-day exercise was it glosses over the longstanding issues and political animus that besets the city and the services it provides to its citizens. No capital city can be relieved of its burden by the occasional mass volunteer efforts spearheaded by central government and its Joint Services or by the appointment of an interim body to run its affairs. What about other inveterate challenges such as the state of Le Repentir Cemetery and the collection of rates and taxes? Just as an aside, what about the rest of the country? Are the government and the Joint Services going to sally forth into every dirty municipality and village – particularly those run by the opposition – and take charge of cleaning up mounds of foetid garbage?
For decades PPP/C governments have skirmished with opposition-led city councils and always for political capital. Recognition of the primacy of devolved governance as enshrined in the local government act and in the constitutional-level Local Government Commission requires a more enlightened relationship between the Ali administration and the City Council particularly in light of the transformational changes to the country’s economy that are being talked about as a result of oil revenues. Already the government is laudably financing the long talked about rehabilitation of City Hall with some of the additional revenue available to it but this should have ideally been within the purview of the city.
The relationship between the city and central government cannot be about one-upmanship and confrontation as both the Mayor and Minister of Local Government seem disposed. The low level of politics aside, it is the citizens of the city who suffer on a daily basis from this dysfunctional relationship – poor garbage collection, unlighted streets, potholed roads, inaccessible cemeteries, ever vanishing green spaces and silted drains.
There must be a historic realignment of thinking. While the cleanup may be a sign that it is already looking towards local government elections this year, what the PPP/C administration needs to do is to recognise the reality that it won’t have political control of Georgetown in the foreseeable future and to enable a practicable basis for the city to run its own affairs.
What is required is a hard-nosed assessment of what the annual city budget should look like considering the vastly expanded perimeters and responsibilities of the city. If, for example, one was to consider the regularising of Sophia, what does that add to the budgetary requirements of the city on an annual basis? Once this figure is computed it has to be ranged against the current budget and revenue earning avenues available to the city. PPP/C-led governments have traditionally interdicted the city from expanding income earning measures – a proposal for a lotto was refused. When the city did get approval from a politically friendly government it concocted the disastrous investor-led parking meters plan when it could have taken on that task by itself. That scandal has now bequeathed a major lawsuit against the state.
Once the size of the budget is worked out, two of the key contributors to the revenue base: rates and taxes and the subvention from Central Government would have to be revisited. Rates and taxes remain relatively low and re-valuations of city properties have been on hold for many years. The time has surely arrived for a review. The subvention from the state must take account of the real number of residents to be serviced. With the state having access to US$624m from oil revenues this year, surely a portion of this should be set aside for the local government tiers.
Once a reasonable budget is available to the city, then its political leaders must deliver. City councils over the last few decades have been nothing more than bickering rabbles with very few of the councillors having the slightest inkling of running a drinks stand much less how to manage the capital city. As had been argued on many occasions before, the council should stand down from the running of the city. It should set policy only and seek a professional manager to run the city. Someone with a résumé of proven business performance should be hired for the day-to-day management of the city and the politicians jettisoned. This must also be accompanied by the rigid enforcement of city by-laws by the Constabulary against littering, garbage dumping, noise nuisance and any number of other offences. The zoning rules in residential areas must be respected and citizens should be entitled to the quite enjoyment of life in their abodes.
No such thinking has yet been evinced by the Ali administration and this would be a good time for it.