–as garbage strike kicks in

WITH the City’s two main garbage contractors opting to pull their services, two small-scale contractors began working Monday morning, and about two more are expected to come on board later this week.

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has hired a new set of contractors to continue garbage collection in Georgetown, even though they claim to have no money at the moment to pay them. The contractors have reportedly expressed a willingness to work, notwithstanding the financial constraints plaguing the municipality.
A fifth contractor, however, has opted to pull out of this new arrangement until he can first be paid what he’s owed.

Based on what Acting Town Clerk Sharon Harry told this publication on Monday, the two contractors have started to work without signing any contract with the municipality.
According to her, there is a stipulated period in City Hall’s arrangement with the contractors, in which the municipality is expected to pay. She said a small percentage of what was previously owed them was agreed to be paid to the contractors before they resumed working this time.

Harry told the Guyana Chronicle that at the end of the day on Monday, two of the garbage trucks belonging to the City Council are expected to be in working condition. Repairs are currently being done to the other two, and they are expected to be in use soon, she said, and that by tomorrow, a compactor will be placed at Bourda.

Solid Waste Management Director Walter Narine also told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday that the City Council has not changed the schedule for garbage collection.
He said the Solid Waste Department, along with Group 8, will be clearing all of the commercial areas in the City, which encompass Alberttown, Queenstown, North and South Cumminsgburg, and Kingston.

“We’re asking residents to exercise patience,” Narine said. “Your garbage will be picked up on schedule; we’re working with what we have at the moment.” He is also asking citizens with any complaints to contact his department.
Meanwhile, at Mondays afternoon’s statutory meeting, Councillor Gregory Fraser said he is not confident that everyone around the horseshoe table knows how to run a business. “You can’t keep running and running a business without payment,” he observed.

Councillor Andrea Marks questioned why the same money being used to pay new contractors cannot be used to pay the two main contractors so that they can continue working.

“It’s very unfair,” she said. “I have a serious problem with taking money to pay fresh contractors, when you can use the same money to pay the old contractors.”
Marks was very upset that around 200 youths who were hired by Cevons Waste Management had to be laid off, especially at this time of year, because the company cannot afford to continue paying them.

Councillor Oscar Clarke recalled that several attempts were made in the past to garner more funds, including a suggestion to ask residents to pay $100 to empty one barrel.
According to him, if councillors had pushed this recommendation, the Council could have garnered some $267M for the year so far. But Clarke recalled that councilors sat there are opposed the suggestion; even Councillor Junior Garrett, whom Clarke said literally died arguing against it.