“It was the best of times,

It was the worst of times,
It was the age of wisdom,
It was the age of foolishness,”
Charles Dickens’ opening lines of his “Tale of Two Cities” aptly describe the soap opera drama now playing out at the City Hall.
Georgetown, once renowned for its beautiful boulevards and referred to as the Garden City of the Caribbean, has been reduced to a state of putrid garbage, spilling sewage, rat-infested pockets and clogged drains.

Grotesque buildings are being erected in contravention of all city laws, demented individuals defecate at will all over the place, and we have a city council that is there for over two decades fighting over who must be the Town Clerk.

Regardless of your political persuasion, as a conscientious and nationalistic Guyanese, the state of our city is something that must be addressed, since it reflects on all of us wherever we go.

The city of Georgetown must be the pride of every citizen, because it is our identity, it is our history, and it belongs to all of us.

It is in this vein that I suggest that the three major parties (PPP, PNC & AFC) put aside political differences and appoint a five-member interim council to restore our city. A timeline for this should be three weeks, since the parties hardly agree on anything and this can go on forever.

The next step is to have local government elections, and if Georgetown residents vote back the incumbent, then the city deserves to rot.
REGGIE BHAGWANDIN