A PARTNERSHIP for National Unity (APNU) frontbencher Ronald Bulkan, on Tuesday, decried the allocation of $500M to undertake a clean-up campaign in the capital city, charging that it is an elections drive.

Gov’t announced that $1 billion has been allocated in the 2014 National Budget for a countrywide cleanup initiative. Of this amount, $500 million will be used to undertake a clean-up campaign in the capital city of Georgetown which is currently dubbed by many as the ‘garbage city’.

However, he was flayed by Government Members of Parliament (MPs) as the original motion to restore Georgetown to its former beauty was Opposition sponsored and passed in the National Assembly last year.
During last year’s debate, APNU MP Volda Lawrence, who introduced the measure, had noted that, despite the many interventions to keep the city clean, it is not in the condition it ought to be, as she made reference to the piles of garbage on the pavements outside the Public Buildings.
She had declared: “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 said, while it was a welcome move, it did not take into account the lack of responsibility on the part of the agency overlooking the management of the city, the Mayor and Council.
Since the announcement of the $500M part of a $1 billion countrywide programme, Mayor Hamilton Green expressed similar sentiments as Bulkan, in

particular the point of electioneering.
But, in the same breath, the Mayor declared 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 waste is properly discarded in appropriate receptacles and efforts will be made to enlist the support of the Private Sector and other bodies to assume greater involvement in helping to maintain the environment in which they operate.