SCORES of Lindeners, young and old, braved the early morning rain on Sunday to launch their ‘Come on the Scene, Keep it Clean’ campaign spreading across sections of communities including the main thoroughfare in Mackenzie, on Republic Avenue, from the BOSAI North Gate through Coop Crescent.The idea was birthed some two years ago, but was given new life after President David Granger’s call to “clean up” the garbage-ridden Capital city, Georgetown. The campaign was triggered by a youth group and was supported by Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon, who called on residents to come out in their numbers to kick-start the clean-up exercise.
Reycia Nedd, Public Relations Officer of the Linden Hospital Complex and representing the youth group, stated: “Basically the exercise went well, because we had a lot of persons who came out to support (and) we still have a lot of persons who are working at the river wall. We have about nine other communities who have joined the clean-up campaign today, so I would label today’s exercise a success…but it does not stop here; it continues.”
Ms Nedd added: “We have gotten a lot of support from corporate Linden; also, we have been able to secure some monies through one of the relevant ministries which pledged $4M to the exercise. The ministry has also pledged 200 trees that will be planted around the communities. What is going to happen after today’s exercise? We are looking to streamline this exercise into a Linden beautification programme, so once that comes on board it is going to be an ongoing exercise where we will be doing education, going around the market educating vendors how to dispose [of] their garbage properly.”
She said BOSAI Minerals Group (Guyana) Inc. has also committed to donating some of those big dumpsters and “we want to see this dump site at the front of the Linden Mackenzie Market extension removed.”
Those dumpsters, Ms Nedd said, will be placed at strategic locations where persons can go and dump and Council then comes and carries the stuff away. The targeted areas are Block 22, Silvertown, West Watooka, Wisrock, Victory Valley, Christianburg and Retrieve.

When the beautification project was launched in 2013, there were entities such as Republic Bank and Courts who had pledged their support. “So we expect them to come on stream,” Nedd posited.
Another member of the youth organisation, Ms Dawn McCammon Barke, said: “I want to stress that if one sees their friends littering, to call them out to stop that and the laws concerning that should be implemented. We also have a Facebook page that is up and running, so when we see somebody littering we have ‘a Hall of Shame’ that will help to curb the situation.”
She stressed: “We will be having a Hall of Fame for those [who] place their garbage in the bins and those who are littering will be placed in the Hall of Shame on our Facebook page. I would like to encourage residents to keep their surroundings clean; if it is your parapet cut it down and don’t wait for the Council to do it or somebody to clean it up for you. Dispose of your garbage properly and don’t throw it openly.”

Ms Barke continued: “We also have open places like the Cenotaph where we will put in some benches for persons to have recreation and other open spaces included across the river by the site for the monument.”
What was noticeable was the support given by local businesses whereby trucks were on the scene and took away the debris. Much work was evidently done in central Mackenzie where the traffic is usually heavy and the task was huge, yet the cooperation was commendable and so was the support by those who worked at times in the rain to clear the parapet and pavement.

By Joe Chapman