$500M for City clean-up is an election
gimmick – City Hall
“…a teardrop in the ocean” By Zena Henry
Already, arguments are brewing over the budgeted $500M that will be pumped into the City for its rehabilitation, with the government saying that it is doing what is required of it in terms of cleaning up Georgetown, while the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) claims that not only is the allocation a “election gimmick”, but it is also “a teardrop in the ocean.”
Mayor Hamilton Green
Mayor Hamilton Green told reporters yesterday that “this is clearly an election gimmick or ploy as the run-up to either Local Government Elections or as we suspect, National Elections.” He said it is clear that this $500M will be used for propaganda purposes and even though he has not seen the details of the venture, there is no suggested sum of sustainability. The Mayor suggested that local polls are being delayed, while the government is ignoring the M&CC and taking it upon itself to pump money into the City while depriving the Council of what it needs to perform those functions. He highlighted also that as the governing body of Georgetown, the Council was not consulted on this initiative. Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green described the $500M as a “teardrop in the ocean”. She explained that while the Council is being ignored and the government is seeking to submit the amount for rehabilitating the capital, it is grossly insufficient. The Deputy Mayor pointed to the 1996 findings of the Council’s engineer, that to overhaul the drainage system alone would take more than $1B, keeping in mind the continued deterioration of the city. Chase-Green touched on the sustainability of the project and indicated that cleaning the city is one thing, but its maintenance is another. Minister within the Local Government Ministry Norman Whitaker is however unmoved by the Council’s comments. He told Kaieteur News yesterday that the government realized that something had to been done about the growing issue of solid waste. “This amount of resource is being made available because there is recognition on the part of our government that something drastic has to be done early/quickly to address the solid waste bid. We thought when we engaged City Hall last year, in discussions as to what are the priorities and what will be done, that there would be significant improvement at their head; that didn’t happen.” He emphasized that at Cabinet level, he asked for considerable increases to resources. He conveyed that, “It has nothing to do with politics, it has to do with environmental and sanitation concerns.”
Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green
To allegations of the half-billion-dollar cleanup project being an “election gimmick” and “party elections campaign”, the Minister said that political parties, groups and for the first time, individuals, can represent their constituencies. “These persons have a specific interest. The government’s interest in terms of elections is ensuring proper readiness; not because the Constitution says the Minister shall; it does not mean the Minister will blindly and stupidly call elections. This thing is not about what a political leader wants, my position remains the same,” he stressed. The Minister also pointed out that he did not consult the Mayor and his team on the use of the money, but the Town Clerk, the City Engineer and the Council’s Solid Waste Director were brought on board. Kaieteur News understands that none of the budgeted half-billion dollars will go to City Hall. On the other hand, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment in a joint statement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) welcomed the $1 billion that was budgeted for the nationwide ‘Clean-up Campaign’. “The Ministry sees this move as an investment to ensure a clean and healthy surrounding, and one that will deal with the problem of improper garbage disposal across our country, particularly the Capital City of Georgetown.” The Ministry said it is however “disturbed and baffled” at comments by the Mayor where he allegedly said that the budgeted sum is “unnecessary”.
Local Govt. Minister Norman Whitaker
The Ministry said that the initiative will build on the ongoing ‘Pick it up Guyana’ Campaign and other recent efforts, such as the recently passed Litter Enforcement Regulations to tackle the problem of garbage and littering. The Ministry, via the Environmental Protection Agency, will enforce the Litter Regulations, through the hiring of Litter Prevention Wardens, and an aggressive ongoing public education campaign. “These initiatives are being rolled out in collaboration with local government bodies, including the Mayor and City Council.”
