–from yesterday for tomorrow

MY father built both furniture and houses, though I was not so inclined. And, as Karma would have it, he felt betrayed by my career choice in much the same way as I did when my youngest decided that she wasn’t going to do Technical Drawing for CSEC.
But I did listen attentively to the lively discussions about the trade between my father and godfather and their friends while I sanded a piece of furniture in between contemplations of the forthcoming “pocket-piece” towards my plan to acquire the important things of that day at my age: Could be comic books, that macho James Bond swimming trunks with the “007” buckle, or a bicycle.

Those conversations would lay the foundation of what ‘building’ constituted. Whether constructing a bridge, a wardrobe, or a cottage, there were standard procedures that yielded expected satisfactory results; those fellows had trade books and magazines to back up their arguments. And that is why I am confused with what is going on today.
Some years ago, the “tail-end” of a northern storm touched the coast of Guyana. The newspapers carried an article of how the roof of a recently built house flew off. Then, months ago, I also read the tragic case of how a woman’s bathroom collapsed, killing her.

How could something like that happen? There are daily cases raised by friends, and sometimes by strangers in public transportation or while relaxing here or there, of walls in homes cracking; water seeping through tiled floors; windows falling out a few weeks after the owners moved in; and the hefty bills paid to so-called contractors.
Contractors have been appealing in the newspapers for intervention. Obviously, at least the first two brothers of the three pigs of that popular nursery tale and their relatives have moved to Guyana and are in the business of construction.

Though we would rather discuss social ailments without reference to politics, I can’t, because the “politricks” is entwined in the fabric of our existence.
I can remember a political “ad” during the 2012 campaign where a young Guyanese was complaining about the PPP government turning fishermen into contractors. It wasn’t an exaggeration.

To empower staunch supporters, strict standards were eroded. A good example was a staunch supporter and friend, from Grove, East Bank, of the then highest public servant who was encouraged to go into mining, flaunted the mining regulation and was responsible for multiple deaths. Construction became an avenue to award, through the award secretariat of the Tender Board, dangerous, illegitimate empowerments to layers and facades of propped-up contractors to in the tradition of the ten per cent minister, whose son is entrenched in the name and being of the largest fabricated contracting entity inherited by the past regime.

EASILY IDENTIFIED
The schools and government projects are easy to be identified, but it is the unprotected citizen that really is vulnerable. Who does he turn to for protection? What is in place to create the checks and balances to ensure that a contractor is even capable of doing what he says he can.

Contractor and building services are recruited based on the only existing current mechanism, which is by “word-of-mouth” recommendation. As flawed and unpredictable as the method is, this is how vulnerable the situation has become. There is no directory, no website, no office that can provide you with recommendations on the different levels of building services, and physical contract awareness at the working-class level to ensure that you don’t build the contractor’s house while he drains you, his victim, both financially and mentally, providing substandard work that can be dangerous to his victim and his family.

The other factor, as for Georgetown, the few traditional offices to which the public leaned on have long become corroded, and its personnel unredeemable. New national approaches will be the ‘chore’ of the current administration for the monitoring with legal ramifications for the construction of homes especially. The burden of not having this in place is already evident. People have died; those who are walking on concrete-tiled floors in their one-flat house that lacks construction plastic in the building process, from foundation to tile placement, will punish in different ways.

Cheating, or the ignorance of formulas for cement vs. sand/brick, will have homes where the walls crack, and the physiological stress conditions accelerate. The organic home rather than the house will suffer; then will it be realised that the recommendation by familiarity is not enough. Too late! Because, there’s no one to turn to; no contract exists. Then it might be said, “Is he yuh use! Schuups! Is who tell yuh about he?” Too late! Pretend you’re happy when…

Pre-and-post-Independence construction left us with solid buildings, both wood and concrete. But they were found wanting in one area: There were no paved roads. Of course, there weren’t many cars either. Today, there is need for paved roads in the very planning of new housing areas. I should also include that the recent retreat of traffic as a result of the parking meters made me a believer that the parking meters, once issued appropriately, across our nation have a salvaging purpose, especially for pedestrians, pedal cyclists, and motorcyclists who die weekly because of the ‘don’t-give-a-damn’ attitude of auto drivers.

At present, pedestrians are driven into the mudholes of the borders of our roads, or else… simply because there are no designated pavements.
And the ‘buy-de-book’ drivers have assumed that the entire road, except and even the trench at times, is their territory.