EVERY time it rains heavily, downtown Georgetown becomes a disaster zone where chaos dominates. Unfortunately, citizens including shop owners and those single parent-mothers, who are on a hustle to provide for their children are left to suffer as a result of the poor performance of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).

Over the last decade, the state of affairs in the city have deteriorated significantly. The only solution now, is a change of management.
Downtown Georgetown has always taken the brunt of City Hall’s incompetence. Almost every street is flooded. If they are not completely covered, the sides are. Oftentimes the dirty water covers the pavements, which are there for the safety of pedestrians.

This situation has ripple effects. Pedestrians are unable to use the pavements to get to their respective destination and this forces them to walk on the roadway, sometimes in the middle of it to avoid their feet getting wet. Vehicles now have to dodge them.

Flooded streets is every driver’s nightmare. Motorists are forced to drive at snail’s pace to avoid damaging their vehicles and splashing water on pedestrians and cyclists.
Also, store owners have to consider closing their doors for the day while the vendors are unable to sell at all. This means that some families would be unable to eat proper meals in the coming days or some parents may not have money to send their children to school.

When it rains, all the unwanted bottles, boxes and other garbage, float up and sometimes hey accumulate in the middle of the road.
Irresponsible citizens and the low lying feature of the coastline is often the excuse used by those in the authority to justify the continuous flooding of downtown Georgetown and other parts of the city.

Frankly speaking, these are trivial excuses that would be chewed up and spit out in any debate. These were the same excuses made 20 years ago, and they ought not to be accepted 23 years later.
We are living in changing times, times where technology has revolutionised our way of life. There are measures we here in Guyana can adopt to deal with the disadvantages of our situation. Other countries have risen above their challenges and so can we.

The blame for the state of the city lies squarely at the feet of City Hall. There are legal measures in place to deal with those nasty citizens who love to throw their garbage all over the place, however, these are seldom used. So, that excuse holds no weight.

Unless City Hall sends a message that littering will not be tolerated, citizens will continue to dispose of their garbage in an irresponsible way. Their responsibility does not absolve City Hall of blame as the buck stops there.

Urban planners, sanitation workers, engineers and the other key persons, have to work together to find the best solutions to the problems facing our city. These are problems that are fixable, but they require proper leadership and team work. The absence of one or both has led to the chaos we experience every time it rains too hard.
After an hour of heavy rain on Thursday, downtown Georgetown was in chaos. Imagine what can happen after 12 hours of rain.

The sad part of it all, is that it is known that May/June is the rainy season; a period where the rainfall is heavier than usual. Yet, City Hall doesn’t take precautionary measures to step up their game so as to prevent chaos.

Come Monday, residents of Georgetown will head to their respective polling stations to vote at the local government elections. Councillors and the mayor will be chosen through this voting process.

Citizens ought to look at the track record of the current M&CC as well as the ones before them, be honest with themselves and vote for those who want to bring about change.
It is time to choose leaders who can do well for the city. There is need for a change in management and this is the first step to addressing the many problems, including the chaos that the rain brings.