A number of community workers who were recruited by the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown are clearing the Le Repentir Cemetery. This initiative is being undertaken with part of the first $10M that the Government of Guyana has released to the municipality to assist with enhancement works around Georgetown.

MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Kellawan Lall has joined in commendation of the workers who were recently recruited by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to do enhancement works around Georgetown.

He told a press conference, earlier this month, that he had personally gone around the capital and seen them working beyond the call of duty.

Lall said he was “very satisfied” with the manner in which they are going about their tasks, even using bare hands to ensure quality performance.

He said about 100 of them were hired, separately from the normal municipal staff and the $10M monthly grant from the Government is greatly helping to ease the burden on City Hall.

Lall, announcing that the second $10M will be released shortly, said the smooth operations by the workers in the streets now allow the M&CC to focus attention on other matters.

The Guyana Chronicle spoke to some of the persons working along Church Street yesterday and one of them, Carl Critchlow, who is heading a team of 21, said among the challenges with which they have to cope daily, are heat from the sun, road traffic, mentally unsound people and drug addicts who are likely to steal their tools.

He said they work Monday through Saturday from 07:00 h to 15:00 h.

Lennox Stuart called ‘Jabbar’, a team member, said another problem has to do with late payment they receive.

He explained that they are paid on Fridays but, by the time they finish working around 13:00 h and go to uplift their cheques, the bank from which they have to withdraw the money is already closed, leaving them without cash over the weekends.

People seem to be unconcerned about our payment. But all of us benefit when the country is kept clean. Also, the flood is everybody’s business,” Stuart declared.

Workmate Trevor Benjamin said, while they have to pay taxes, they do not get any sort of receipt for such payments.

EVIDENCE
He said he would like to have some form of evidence that their taxes are, indeed, being forwarded to the relevant authorities.

The general public attitude in society is for people to look with disdain at those doing such work but some have a different view and also commended them, as the following shows.

Carl Lewis, a chauffeur, said: “We should never scorn such individuals because they are doing their job. And what they do make our lives better. When they keep the place clean, it gives foreigners a chance to enjoy our city.”

Haymant Hansraj, an auto technician, said: “Everyone needs to work and everyone is cut out for their own job. You must be in a good frame of mind to do this kind of work and I appreciate what they do very much. Of course, some of us are not as fortunate as others to do high tech jobs. Maybe because of poverty. Nevertheless, these people deserve to be paid properly and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. In Canada, such workers are some of the most highly paid. Chaos will result if these individuals do not take up such jobs. Simply put, without them, we cannot afford to keep our city clean.”

Akash Persaud, assistant graphics coordinator at Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL), said: “I have a lot of respect for such workers. I think the yardstick used to measure the importance and quality of a job is very biased. The general perception that people have about doing such work is wrong. Recently, we saw what happened when garbage collectors ceased their operations. The entire city suffered. We are all human beings and someone must do the job.”

Andrene Denny, a student, said: “These workers prevent all sorts of diseases when they engage in cleaning the city. In addition, our country will overflow with garbage if they stop working.”