Dear Editor,
THE news that the body of missing 19-year-old Harris Anthony Persaud, a former student of Queen’s College and a second year student at the University of Guyana, was found at the foreshore of the Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara, must have sickened to the core every parent in Guyana, particularly those with young, bright, hardworking and ambitious children like Harris Anthony Persaud.Only God knows the agony his parents experienced to learn he had apparently met his demise as a consequence of going to the back of the Marriott Hotel for “a swim”; that a huge wave swept him away is even more egregious.

How many youths have already died in the Lamaha Canal, popularly known as ‘the Blacka’, and in other local canals creeks and rivers?

This is happening, and will continue to happen, purely and simply because of the callousness and depravity of the administration of the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC), which has so far refused to have a municipal pool constructed in the capital, and staffed with lifeguards and other safety features to replace the Luckhoo Swimming Pool that was once available to the public.

Many, if not most, towns and cities in the Caribbean and around the world provide public pools, which are often part of a larger leisure centre or recreational complex. The Georgetown Municipality prefers to waste hundreds of millions of dollars building ridiculous presidential parks, the cost of which could have built a modern aquatic centre.

The youths of Georgetown deserve a good life, and will get a good one only when the imprudent and corrupt administrators at City Hall are removed.

Does the Government of Guyana not see the nonsense that is going on at City Hall? Must more youths perish before the management of City Hall is shaken up?

When one reads the ridiculous six-point plan that was outlined by the Town Clerk, which was filled with pie in the sky ideas, one would have expected more practical, relevant and sensible ideas coming from a primary school child.

I suggest that the Council quit fooling around and get serious about improving the services provided and the resources made available to the public.

If one does not own a pool, belong to a swim club or pay to swim at a hotel in Georgetown, then he or she has to continue swimming in the ‘Blacka’ or at the seawalls, a most unsafe practice.

Faithfully yours,
JAMES MC ONNELL