THERE comes a time when it has to be said that “enough is enough”. The beautification of Georgetown by the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) is highly commendable and is a step in the right direction in the areas of environmental health and aesthetics, which are elements of development.Because cleanliness and development of the city had been caught up in a vicious vice of partisan politics and the obsession for control by the past central government, the citizens and town — and by extension the nation – had suffered.

Caught up in the past dysfunction were the vendors, who at given times were used as pawns by both the council and central government in furtherance of making a point to the other. There is no denying this fact. At the same time, the council was collecting fees from the vendors. This act in itself gives legitimacy to the presence of the vendors and the goods and services they supply, unless it is to be believed that the council was engaging in an act of lawlessness — collecting fees from the vendors, knowing full well that their presence was in violation of the city’s by-laws. And if this has been the case, then there exists a matter for litigation and recompense.

It is hard to believe that any right-thinking citizen would want the city to be untidy; or, as one minister under a previous administration said, let it become a health crisis. At the same time, while citizens desire to dwell in pleasant and healthy spaces, at the level of the council, it becomes incumbent on the city’s fathers and mothers to find a space where the vendors and the environment can co-exist.

Shortly after the May 2015 General and Regional Elections, when the City Council, sections of the business community, citizens, and the newly-elected Government collaborated in a project to restore Georgetown to its Garden City image and former glory, vendors were noticeably part of that clean-up exercise. Persons were seen on the streets cleaning up with apparently no regard for the necessity to wear protective gear or consideration of the implication of contracting certain diseases that such exposure could cause.

So it is not a case where citizens, including vendors, have not bought into and supported the project to restore Georgetown and Guyana. But something has since gone wrong — really wrong – at City Council, and it has to be fixed, lest this nation erupts in upheaval. Understandably, the city’s fathers and mothers, like others, recognise the need to spruce up the environment for the 50th anniversary of Guyana’s Independence, which is in keeping with our culture to get all nice and dandy for events. But beautification has to be done in a structured manner, having respect for national laws, the city’s by-laws, and consideration for those who will be affected; which requires putting in place a contingency plan to attend to their welfare, one that will ensure as little as possible disruption to lives and economic opportunities.

These human and legal elements continue to elude the city’s fathers and mothers and the Town Clerk, whose ‘don’t care a damn’ or ‘our way or no way’ attitude is not only crude, but unbecoming in fostering positive human relations between revenue providers (citizens and businesses) and revenue collectors (City Hall).

The incident of Thursday at 3:00 a.m., which according to city workers who bulldozed the concrete structure of the Dread Shop was done on a directive issued by the Town Clerk, is not only another botch in a series of similar exercises, but is a continued display of arrogance that has no place in governance.

Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes has presented to the media evidence that his firm is representing Anthony Forde, owner of the Dread Shop, in a matter before the Appeal Court regarding the presence of the structure at the location, and the relationship between City Council and the owner.

Without getting into the details of this matter, suffice it to say that the Town Clerk has now apparently assumed that he is above the law, and this needs to be checked. Where the nation’s highest court is litigating a matter between the Council and Forde, if the Council thinks it will pay no heed to this branch of Government and its voice at the highest level, something is really amiss in the Council’s thinking.

The perception is also seen in the treatment of other vendors, who have been denied the right to consultation, which was followed through with blunders of not having new location prepared for days. It seems not to matter to a cash-strapped council that the denial of income to vendors also means a loss of revenue for the city, and this will negatively impact the quality of service it is expected to provide.

In colloquial language, brute force and ignorance will not bring about positive results. Such approach will inflame delicate situations, exacerbate unnecessary conflicts, and create fodder for the political self-serving and divisive in the society.

While it carries a price, development does not come at the price of disregarding the human factor and showing disrespect for the laws. Where there was doubt as to the lack of empathy, shrewd planning and regard for laws, the Dread Shop incident is proof positive that City Council is hell bent on doing what it pleases, without regard for established institutions, including the court.

It is time the Council be reined in, and its actions going forward be directed through appropriate approaches.