THE recent article by INEWS Guyana http://www.inewsguyana.com/ re: Deputy Mayor criticizes disparity in litter fines refers.

EPA has no objection to harmonization and has only confirmed the mismanagement that is taking place at the Mayor and City Council.

The Mayor and City Council as an entity, has been incapable of managing the huge daily piles of garbage and litter across the city; but Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green is now up in arms at efforts being made the clean up the mess the M&CC have been neglecting over the years.

As a concerned Guyanese, I am appalled at the inefficiencies of the M&CC, and would like to state that the difference in fines from $10,000 to $50,000, as stated in the article, does not absolve the M&CC from carrying out its mandate to keep Georgetown clean and bring back the days when the city was known as the Garden City.

The M&CC has a responsibility to its citizenry, but sees the increase in fines as an opportunity for more corrupt practices by members. The officers of the M&CC have, over the years, been ineffective at penalizing offenders with fines of $5,000, so how can they now be capable?

The cry by the Deputy Mayor that the Municipal and Districts Councils Act needs reform is no one’s fault but the M&CC. However, the Environmental Protection Agency must be commended for updating its regulations and necessary laws to arrest the growing garbage situation plaguing our capital city.

The long forgotten Garden City is bound to remain the garbage city, as we currently know it, if the M&CC should maintain its current status quo of neglecting the city rather than welcome efforts and initiatives to transform Georgetown.

Erica Smith (rtd. Teacher)