Dear Editor,
A relatively short distance away, on the tiny island of Barbados, blessed with the industry of tourism, mainly, the government has undertaken a cluster of developmental programmes. They are providing the fundamental things to improve the aesthetics and comfort of Barbados for all of its citizens and not just for a select few. Charity begins at home, and by putting their country and citizens first, it creates a domino effect which attracts tourists and immigrants. They are supplying two sturdy garbage bins on wheels to each citizen; one for regular trash and the other for recyclable items. These bins are outfitted with bar codes to monitor the collection of payments as citizens are charged a small sum for trash removal.
The Barbadian government is regularly doing things to provide a good standard of living to its populace. Their laws prescribing fines for littering are enforced, unlike what occurs here. Recently, they have digitized their archives dating back to as far as 1635. They have recently undertaken signage of streets, and the restoration of fallen bus stops, and poor road markings. We need that to be done here. These undertakings are being done in a partnership with the private sector.
It is a descent to a new low when it behoves the President and members of his cabinet and civic leaders to take steps to literally clean the city. This task belongs to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC). If they are constitutionally mandated to maintain and sanitize the environment then they need to face all the legal pressure that could be mustered if they fail to do so. Over many years, the M&CC has been a white elephant; it is shocking! Decades ago, they assiduously maintained the cleaning of drains, trenches, parapets and general surroundings. They collected and disposed of garbage on the due date of the week, among other environmental duties. Public health inspectors would visit homes, check and spray yards, drains, trenches and surroundings, sometimes discarding any uncovered vessel filled with water. This was done to eradicate the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. I guess that this was done in partnership with the Ministry of Health.
With the influx of people and companies resulting from our developing oil industry, more strain will be placed on the environment, social services and healthy living spaces. It is easy to allow people to come in and be creative with our resources for their benefit, while we get the crumbs off the table. Their creativity and industry are used to make it appear that a lot is being done for Guyanese via these big projects. Big projects are good if we also get the big returns to which we are entitled. There is an urgent need for Guyana to get working like a well-oiled machine. With the amount of opportunities availed to some areas of the private sector in Guyana, through our burgeoning oil industry, it will be interesting to see the extent to which they implement their social responsibility. There are only a handful of successful businesses appearing regularly with contributions to individuals and national development. Guyana has a lot of mistakes to correct and a lot of catching-up to do with the rest of the world, so the Cabinet’s and civic leaders’ time could be better spent instead of physically cleaning the city.
We undoubtedly have a large space provided to a small population, and abundant resources to transform Guyana and to emulate the leadership displayed in Barbados and other Caribbean territories. These countries are endowed with much less resources than ours and are located in the Hurricane Zone. We need to treasure what we have, and not let it be trampled on and ruined by foreign forces, even as we joyfully welcome them to our shores.
Sincerely,
Conrad Barrow
