RESIDENTS of Georgetown perhaps could now breathe a sigh of relief as government has once again stepped in to avert a garbage crisis following a withdrawal of services by garbage disposal contractors for the umpteenth time in recent years.
While some may attempt to criticise government for hesitating to help City Hall, they must at the same time understand that this hesitation stems from the fact that the City Council has demonstrated its inability to administer and manage the affairs of Georgetown. This was clearly brought out by the Burrowes Commission of Inquiry. Therefore, it is obvious that central government has to be cautious in providing funds to City Hall. It is not that the government is being vindictive or unconcerned. It is simply that it has to ensure that City Hall has adequate and acceptable plans to ensure that funds are properly utilised and accounted for. Any government worth its salt would operate in such a manner.
However, to his credit, new Local Government Minister Mr. Norman Whittaker immediately after taking the Oath of Office, began addressing the garbage woes in Georgetown. In this regard,
a multi-stakeholder meeting was convened at the Ministry of Local Government to facilitate arrangements for the spending of the additional subvention of $135M that Government has made available to the Mayor and City Council.
Mr. Whittaker along with  Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn; Deputy Mayor, Robert Williams and other City Hall officials engaged in discussions and took the opportunity to highlight also a clear picture of how the monies will be spent.
Minister Whittaker noted that his ministry will work closely with City Hall to ensure that all funds received, whether from taxpayers or through subventions, are spent for the purpose of delivering services to the people.
“Government has made available the subvention to the tune of $135M, and I think that, collectively, we would agree that we owe it to the taxpayers and to Local Government to have a clear understanding as to how this money will be utilised… we want to know about the disbursement of funds to the contractors who are owed, we want to leave here knowing that the two collectors who are owed are paid, the employees are paid, and pensioners who are owed are paid,” Whittaker stated.
His assurance that his ministry will be working in close collaboration with City Hall is surely the way and this will be welcomed by all stakeholders.
City Hall’s Deputy Mayor, Robert Williams, expressed gratitude to the government and to President Jagdeo for the financial support.
He said: “At the moment we are extremely grateful, particularly for the input for workers to benefit from their salaries, and also the garbage contractors to be able to continue their work. All in all, we are thankful for the input by the government in these areas of garbage collection and salaries for workers, so that we will be more focused in other areas.”
Williams noted that the City Council will now be in a better position to be more focused on other areas of revenue earning, as it has been targeting the collection of outstanding revenue for quite some time.
While government’s intervention in this instance will bring relief in the short and medium terms, City Hall needs to come up with a comprehensive garbage strategy that will provide a permanent solution. It cannot simply continue in this way and depend steadily on government to rescue it. In fact, it should work towards ensuring that there is no recurrence of a garbage disposal crisis or near crisis situations.