FRONT-BENCHER of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Ronald Bulkan, yesterday, decried the allocation of $500M to undertake a clean-up campaign of the capital city and charged that the campaign is an elections campaign.

However, he was flayed by government members of Parliament as the initial motion to restore Georgetown to its former beauty was an Opposition-sponsored motion that was passed in the National Assembly last year.
During last year’s debate, APNU MP Volda Lawrence had moved the motion noting that despite the many interventions to keep the city clean, it is not in the condition in which it ought to be, as she made reference to the piles of garbage on the pavements outside Parliament Building.
She had noted, “As an elected body, we have a mandate to restore the splendour of the ‘Garden City.’ Today, we must let our voices be jointly heard in support of this motion titled ‘Restoration Georgetown.”
The motion accounts for the expansion of the boundaries of Georgetown over the last four decades in the first ‘whereas’ clause. It calls for the support of a number of stakeholders through the establishment of a committee consisting of MPs, the Mayor and City Council, and the ministries of transport and hydraulics, and local government. Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker noted that while it was a welcome move, the motion did not take into account the lack of responsibility on the part of the agency overlooking the management of the city – the Mayor and City Council.
Mayor Hamilton Green, since the announcement of the $500M – part of a $1 billion country wide programme– has similar sentiments as Bulkan, in particular the point of electioneering.
However, in the same breath, the Mayor noted that the $500M is only a “drop in the ocean” and much more will be needed to address the works to be done.
Government, through the $1 billion initiative, is expected to spearhead an effort that will result in the capital city, all other towns, and rural villages implementing a ‘Clean Up My Community’ action plan that will address the collection and removal of garbage, as well as the reporting of residents who irresponsibly dispose of their garbage.
Citizens, businesses and institutions will be tasked with ensuring that their garbage is properly discarded in appropriate receptacles. Efforts will be made to enlist the support of the private sector and other institutions to assume greater involvement in helping to maintain the environment in which they operate.
By Vanessa Narine