VERY soon we would be commemorating the 200th birthday of our capital city, Georgetown. Those of us who lived through part of the colonial and post-colonial times would know how deserving is our capital city for a complete overhaul as we set to mark the grandiose occasion.
Although now is not the time to play the blame game for the present debacle facing our city, we cannot help but reflect on the glorious days of Georgetown. We cannot ignore the fact that Georgetown was always referred to, until recent years, as the ‘Garden City’, and that we lost that pride when control of the city was put wholly and squarely into the hands of the PNC, which party had literally laid siege to Georgetown as its property.
Those of us who have lived through the times of then and now certainly know about most of the streets being beautifully paved by the Flamboyant and other trees which lent their grandeur to the sense of solace that pervaded; when Georgetown, in its own way, provided sanctuary to both town people and those who would visit from the countryside, including Essequibo and Berbice; when in its own right, Georgetown was the hub of activities in the entire country.
While it is good for us to reminisce on the glorious days of our city of unmatched exquisiteness and elegance, we cannot help escaping the haunt that prick us now when we look at our once majestic city.
Oh yes, it has been transformed from a garden city to a garbage city and no longer gives credence to the several high-rise edifices that have sprung up in the city in recent times.
But the demise of our capital city started in the early 1960s, when several departmental stores were ravaged by fire caused by political strife. While it was a pay day for many, others were counting their losses which could have never been recovered.
The events that followed transformed the glamour of Georgetown to one of political strife, hatred and greed which ushered in oceans of street protests and demonstrations. It was the streets of Georgetown that bore the brunt of the demonstrations, all of which were political in nature, calling for freedom and democracy and justice and fair-play among other things.
The PNC which, by this time was ruling supreme had a tight rein on the majority of people who were rallying behind the PPP. The PNC’s dominance of the political arena for 28 years were characterised by several dysfunctional agencies including the City Hall which had overall responsibility of the city of Georgetown and its environs, and herein laid the problem as the PNC was hell bent into making City Hall one of its arms, politicising it in the process.
The abominable manner in which the affairs of City Hall were conducted in those days had left much to be desired and the city had begun to change its outlook, and little by little its woes were beginning to pile up and had already taken root when the incumbent won power in 1992.
But it was too late, and tried as it may; it faced monumental tasks over the years to save our city from further deterioration. This situation exists because although losing all the general elections since 1992, the PNC continues to have control over City Hall.
We recall that on several occasions, this government had to bail out City Hall because of garbage build-up in the streets, but there is little the government could do in the current circumstances as City Hall, by itself, is falling apart.
The people believe that the commercial centres which have over the years bore the brunt of PNC attacks would be called upon to brighten up things, but no amount of coloured bulbs would stop the stench from the pile up of garbage.
City Hall will have to start putting its act together and weed out the incompetents in the process, so that we could return some decency to the once ‘Garden City’.