THE new set of littering by-laws that were approved by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) about a year ago, which can see persons being fined as much as $100,000 for the practice, are still at the committee level, Mayor Ubraj Narine has said.
At a press conference on Tuesday at City Hall, the Mayor said the Council operates by committees. “Sometimes you call these committees, get a quorum, and move forward. But you can’t call that committee every day,” he advised.
Explaining why the City Council has been less than aggressive in its pursuit of the new by-laws, the Mayor said many of the councillors are new. “We have to go through one by one, phase by phase,” he expressed.
Councillor Gregory Fraser, who was also present for the press briefing, pointed out, during an invited comment, that the new by-laws are an addition to the laws governing the municipality.

“We can’t just act on them. We have to process them; they have to go to the minister and then to the legislative branch for them to debate it and have it passed. Then they have to go to the president for him to assent to it.”
Meanwhile, the M&CC had said that it wanted the new system for littering in place by the end of October 2018. It would have seen the imposition of fines for littering ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, with imprisonment as the consequence of a failure to pay.
Every person who contravenes the by-laws would be subjected to the aforementioned fines, which are to be paid within 72 hours from the time notice is given of the imposition of the fine. Failure to pay attracts an additional fine of $10,000 for every 24 hours payment remains outstanding.

Furthermore, according to the proposed by-law, every person who remains in default of payment for more than 72 hours commits an offence, and upon summary conviction is liable to imprisonment for a period of no less than 24 hours, but not exceeding 120 hours.
“I believe that because we do not have these penalties and fines in place, people find an incentive to do what they’re doing. It’s unfair to the city, it’s unfair to decent-minded Guyanese and we have to stop it,” former Town Clerk Royston King had stated. “This applies to even someone throwing a cigarette butt on the ground, to someone throwing a bag away with unwanted stuff. It applies to everyone found littering,” he clarified.
According to the proposed by-laws, litter means any solid or liquid material or product such as rubbish, refuse, garbage, paper package, container, bottle, cans, manure, human or animal excrement, the whole or part of an animal carcass, coal, wood, gravel, earth, sawdust, glass, plastic, nails, stables, tacks, scraps or metal, and expended tobacco products. It also refers to the whole or part of any article, raw or processed material, vehicle or machinery of any type.

Regarding empty lots around the city, the by-laws state: “No person shall throw, place leave or deposit litter upon private property without the consent of the owner of the property. Where on any grounds, yard or vacant lot or property there is litter the owner shall move such litter from the land, so that the land is left in a clean condition.” Furthermore, “No person shall urinate or defecate in the city except in a public washroom or portable or other such facility provided specifically for those purposes.”