All or most Guyanese are very upset at the horrible environmental state of Georgetown and are yearning for this capital city to be restored to its glory days when it was regarded as the “Garden City”.

But it must be recognised that Georgetown did not become decrepit overnight or with the advent of Ms. Sooba as town clerk, as some are naively and foolishly trying to contend. Rather, it has reached this state as a result of a long period of neglect; illegal vending; the increasing use of Styrofoam and plastics; a sharp increase in the number of vehicles; failure to implement policies and programmes to meet new challenges and demands and, of course, mismanagement and corruption at City Hall. It could be argued with a great degree of merit that the latter has been responsible for the former.
Much to their credit Georgetown was managed well during the tenures of Mayors Archibald Codrington and Mrs. Beryl Simon. They were the last two mayors who demonstrated an unwavering commitment to ensuring that the city was in a good environmental state and did so by their “no nonsense” approach.
With their departure, things began to downslide continuously to where we are now. Lawlessness, garbage, littering, illegal vending, a virtual non-functioning drainage system, traffic congestion, potholed roads, etc, have become the order of the day in Georgetown.
This was inevitable because City Hall never adopted a proactive approach and the commitment and dedication to the well-being of Georgetown by City Hall officials were always questionable. It is unimaginable that a mayor would actually defend and encourage illegal vending. It is no wonder that this has become such a huge problem.
Guyanese administrators and managers generally have a culture to deal with a problem only when it has reached a precipice. They are totally void of the old adages: “Prevention is better than cure” and “A stitch in time saves nine”.
However, it was most heartening and encouraging to have assurances from City Hall officials that they are embarking to do whatever it takes to drain the city and restore it to its former glory, in the wake of the recent indignation arising from the flash flood that came with Tuesday’s heavy and prolonged rainfall, and the ever present and spreading garbage piles. In this regard, already tangible steps are being taken. Beginning Wednesday night, the council, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Local Government, embarked on a massive cleanup exercise outside the Public Buildings (Parliament). They targeted, first, the area south of Public Buildings, which accommodates the Linden bus park and to the east of the Public Buildings compound.
Signalling that enough is enough, City Engineer Venture emphasised, “Businesses are warned that those who complete construction and still have building materials on the roads face having them seized. We will seize them, and the owners will have to pay fines to retrieve them.”
He also sounded a warning that vendors who have recently set up structures to ply their trade will be removed in the weeks ahead.
Venture assured also that the City Council will be trying its utmost to improve drainage and the condition of roads to improve the integrity of the city.
Meanwhile, regarding the indiscriminate dumping and littering, the council’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Jeffrey, almost throwing up her hands in despair, said, “Something is wrong with people…I believe that education is the key.” Noting that her department covers every area, she admitted that a manpower shortage constitutes a serious problem, but gave the assurance that the Public Health Department is willing to work with every sector to prevent outbreaks of sickness and disease.
While we welcome these reassurances from City Hall, they should be reminded that we have heard these fine-sounding words many times before but little or no follow up action.
City Hall officials must recognise that having grandiose plans is one thing, but implementing and executing them, which is even more important than the plans, is a key issue.
They must also recognise that the restoration of Georgetown has to be achieved through short, medium and long-term policies and programmes.
In the long term, we have to place our focus on building new road networks, expanding and modernising the drainage system, developing technologically advanced garbage collection and disposal methods and systems, establishing, overhead road bypasses, introducing overhead cable cars to move people around and even consider the construction of a subway system because inevitably, the construction of road networks would reach a saturation point, but the volume of vehicular and commuter traffic would continuously increase, particularly with increased industrialisation.
So while it is imperative to focus on the short and medium-term issues, it is equally imperative that we begin now to focus on the long-term issues. Time is running out rapidly.