The manner in which our capital city has been managed over the last two decades has been of great concern to citizens, as well as central government, which has been providing tangible support to the City Council over the years and on Tuesday President Bharrat Jagdeo reassured the nation that government will continue to bail out the municipality by injecting financial aid into City Hall.
According to the President, “the government will be supportive; we don’t have a choice. This is our city; we cannot say that it is run by Hamilton Green or the PNC, so we don’t pay attention to it, this is why we have pumped so much money into the city.”
He also disclosed that $500M is presently being invested by central government for road improvement works around the city and that every single road in the city built over the last 15 years was funded by the central government.
Citing other investments made towards the enhancement and general improvement of the city, he said: “We just bought some garbage trucks to give to City Hall; hopefully that will make a difference. Then we have the new dump site (located at Eccles); thankfully the people in South Georgetown could be relieved. We now have a modern landfill site.”
However, despite all of this support, accusations are being unfairly and unjustifiably levelled by some that the government has not been providing support to City Hall. Those who have been making these unfair accusations have been ignoring the crux of the problem which is the poor management and administration of the municipality, which in turn has led to a terrible deterioration  of conditions which has led to the universal acceptance that Georgetown has moved from the once “garden city to a garbage city.
What has happened over the last 15 years is that  City Hall has used more energy and time in dealing with squabbling, scandals, politicking and controversies rather dealing with the burning problems in a frontal and honest manner.
The Burrowes Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of City Hall brought this out vividly which was an indictment on those managing the affairs of the capital city. And if there has not been enough of wrangling and controversies at City Hall, yet another one seems to be brewing as now there is a serious allegation by Councillors that the City Engineers Department is mired in bribery and corruption. This has prompted a motion calling for an investigation into the alleged corruption.
On this note, a scathing attack on the Department was made by one Councillor who declared: “The only time you hear about the City Engineer’s Department is when they taking bribes all over the place.”
According to the Councillor, the motion calling for an investigation was passed because of the many high-rise buildings that are steadily going up but cannot be accounted for at the Council.
She charged that there are many alleged illegal constructions at various locations in the city, including at Cummings Street, Louisa Rowe and Sheriff Street.
If these allegations are true, then it is a very worrisome and frightening development because it calls into question whether the requisite building codes and standards have been adhered to and if they have not been adhered to, these buildings could seriously endanger lives and limbs and the general safety of the environment.
From all indications, it appears that the only way the management and administration of the city could be restored to some degree of efficiency and effectiveness is through a complete revamping and restructuring of City Hall as residents are tired of the excuses and deflections being given for the woes of Georgetown.