The disappointment expressed last Friday, during a press conference by Mayor Ubraj Narine of the Georgetown City Council, about the littering problem and the Council being stymied in getting on top of the scourge is not without importance. Georgetown is filthy and with many eyesores.
Littering has an economic and financial impact on the performance of local government authorities, of which the City Council is part. Revenue in the local authorities is already scarce. Having to divert resources to do one job twice should not be if there was effective waste management and stringent laws to improve corporate and personal responsibility.
There is a need for better waste management in a city whose commerce, residency, human and vehicular traffic have outgrown its original size. The City has not kept pace with this growth and undoubtedly it will impact its waste management which could do with review. Where the authority not only has to dispose of garbage in the bins, but they also have to grapple with those thrown around the place, including animal carcasses. It only served as a reminder when the Mayor referred to these ending up in the waterways, contributing to blockage and flooding. There is also the aspect of health for such an environment not only breathes mosquitoes and their diseases, but other communicable water borne diseases.
The City Council is as limited or empowered where there are not only laws and penalties to deter littering but enforcement of these, but they need support from the Central Government. Partisan and narrow minded politics have created inertia in governing. It would be unfortunate if the Central Government does not provide needed support to the Council because the city is a stronghold of its political rival and the Mayor, a leader of the group.
The Central Government knows it is tarnished by a past that allowed the city to fall into disrepair and a statement by one of his ministers wishing a public health outbreak on the denizens. If it no longer thinks this way the minister responsible for local government should be facilitating the support the Council needs.
Restoring Georgetown to the once famed Garden City would be a reflection on all Guyanese, irrespective of politics. The opportunity for creating a better environment not only for the denizens that are supporters of the political opposition but for the government that operates out of the city, its leaders who reside in the city and most of all for Guyana. Georgetown is Guyana’s capital, major site for government business and trading port. No effort must be spared to restore it to its former glory. It is a crying shame not to see or value its upkeep to national development, which includes environmental protection and health of citizens
Proposal by the Mayor to create synergies with the Environmental Protection Agency is not without value, given not only its penalty is higher than that of the Council, but necessary in the thrust for Sustainable Development and a Green Economy.
Guyanese can obey laws when made to see its seriousness and the consequence for not obeying. A $10,000 fine for littering does not serve as a serious deterrence and where enforcement is poor the unhealthy practice will continue. The same Guyanese who with aplomb will throw a sweetie wrapper on the street in Guyana will do the opposite when they visit or reside in the developed world. They will either put that wrapper in a garbage receptacle or in their bag or pocket to discharge when they get home. What makes them more respectful to a foreign land or adopted country than their own is the strident laws and enforcement.
Littering is unhealthy and bad for the environment. To make littering a deterrence weak law, penalty and absence of enforcement will not work. People will flout the law and the problem will continue. The Central Government knows this. The fact that they do, if they work against supporting the Council and other local authority, particularly those controlled by the Opposition, would suggest not only an uncaring attitude for health and wellness but choosing to make partisan political statements.
