I SEE Dr. ‘Joey’ Jagan is once again trying to generalize from the particular. In one section of the press, he recently  pointed to the admittedly sad state of the environs around  the seawall near the Pegasus Hotel. He is trying to make things look bad for the government which he intimates doesn’t care.

As Joey writes, when he was recently walking his dog in the area, he was appalled at the conditions — strewn garbage, dog faeces, and possible dangerous stray dogs.

I would agree with him. I walk there almost every year when I visit Guyana. That area needs cleaning up.  But the City Council is the place to address his concerns; it has to do more, not only for people walking dogs, but for ordinary working people suffering from clogged trenches, uncollected garbage, etc. The Central Government does care; it gives the City Council money, but nothing seems to get done.

The other thing is that Joey has to be fair. He says the rundown area next to a major hotel may turn off tourists. But why try to generalise from the particular? What about the other projects which have come on stream in the tourist sector over the last decade or so? There have been many. Let us be fair.

Also, a lot of the flotsam, such as plastic containers, float down onto Guyana’s shores after being thrown from ships upwind in the Atlantic Ocean. All the Caribbean islands, including Barbados, suffer from this. Almost monthly, there are volunteer crews from community groups cleaning up the major Barbados beaches and assisting the government’s  National Conservation Commission.

Joey also forgets to mention that that some Guyanese continue to thoughtlessly litter rather than put their garbage in containers provided — or put it in their own vehicle or bags until they reach home.

Joey, be fair. This government does care. But everybody has to pull their weight. On your walks, you have time to think about this.