MOST Guyanese are aware that sanitation, including a reliable supply of clean water, is essential for good health, clean communities, and a healthy environment. However, it is frequently overlooked that job creation and sustainability depend on efficient sanitation services.

It is therefore commendable that the APNU+AFC administration has committed itself to the provision of good sanitation, as this will have a direct, positive impact on employment opportunities, particularly as it relates to young Guyanese.

It is logically clear how sanitation affects jobs. For example, one remembers that under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) regime, the various municipal markets were dumpsites. One recalls too, that during the reign of the PPP, Georgetown, generally, was one huge, stinking, rat and mosquito-infested dump; and the PPP government did nothing to fix the problem. Perhaps, PPP officials were too busy acquiring personal wealth as they built their extravagant mansions in “Pradoville.” Under those conditions during the PPP era, what businessperson would have wanted to invest in Guyana?

It is clear that lack of sanitation causes disease, and sick adults cannot go to work; sick children cannot go to school and get an education in order to get good jobs when they grow up.

Of course, the dump that was Georgetown became a flooded nightmare every time it rained. Again, persons could not get to work; and let us not forget that in those horrible days, many businesses were affected and were forced to remain closed, resulting in employees losing pay.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that, “An estimated three out of four jobs that make up the global workforce are either heavily or moderately dependent on water. This means that water shortages and problems of access to water and sanitation could limit economic growth and job creation in the coming decades, according to a UN report. The 2016 edition of the United Nations [UN] World Water Development Report, Water and Jobs, also notes that half of the world’s workers — 1.5 billion people — are employed in eight water and natural resource-dependent industries.”

UNESCO states too, that, “[Sanitation] and jobs are inextricably linked on various levels, whether we look at them from an economic, environmental or social perspective. [One edition of the] UN’s World Water Development Report breaks new ground by addressing the pervasive relationship between sanitation and jobs to an extent not yet seen in any other report,” said the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) spoke directly to Guyana’s situation; one of the agency’s reports asserts that, “The conditions which Guyana is likely to experience through Climate Change will impact diminishing [sanitation] resources, causing increased malnutrition, waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, and vector-borne diseases such as malaria.
The manifestations of climate change if not addressed now, will affect the survival, growth, development and participation of children, thus hindering their optimum performance and achievements. Prevention and mitigation of these threats are inextricably linked to the achievement of the goals and standards set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).”

Fortunately, Guyanese woke up from the nightmare of the PPP’s appalling governance in 2015 when citizens elected the APNU+AFC administration into office. One will recall that within a few days of taking office, the government launched a clean-up exercise. One remembers that businesspersons, private citizens, religious organisations, and youth clubs enthusiastically joined the administration to clean the city. Guyanese should never allow our beautiful country to return to that state of dirtiness.

The international reports cited here also mentioned climate change as a major factor in maintaining sanitation. It must be noted that President Granger’s Green State Development Strategy comprehensively addresses how Guyana will fight climate change and its negative effects. Guyanese are indeed fortunate to have a visionary, caring, and action-oriented government that has dedicated itself to providing a better life.