Dear Editor
I am a firm believer that every story has two sides, and this letter in an effort to reach parity is to give you the opportunity to explain whether you support it or did not support this matter, which I have already described in my letter and with clarity referred to in the Stabroek News Editorial on Sunday, April 4, 2021, both attached for your information.
I will avoid another public intervention to allow you an opportunity to advert to this matter promptly, which is of concern to citizens at home and abroad.
One Councillor, to whom I spoke with said that (a) the decision was prompted by the fact that Central Government was taking over land and property that belongs to the Municipality and second, the Municipality needed cash.
Both reasons are rather tenuous and not worthy of a Council that represents the Capital of our beloved country. Allow me now to state, first, that I consulted the leadership of the three parties represented at the Georgetown M&CC and they all said that they were not consulted before the decision was made on the above.
Any right thinking members of an important Municipal authority ought not to arrive at decisions of such great significance as the above, without checking the records and consulting the highest authority of all the relevant socio-political groupings.
Before a response from you, I must assume that every Councillor, irrespective of race, colour, creed or political affiliation has an interest to return Georgetown to its place of pride where the City can be once again regarded as the Garden City and therefore, any action that would appear to put in distress this laudable objective should be rejected out of hand.
Dear Councillor, what is equally bothersome is that I have been informed that the Council is about to consider other plans for the so-called development of Merriman’s Mall.
I hope this is not the case and if there are applications, they should all be turned down promptly. We also have been told that the developer is to pay $M1.4 dollars monthly. Note the following from the Holy Scriptures, as follows:
The Bhagavad Gita 2.71 states “They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of “I,” “me,” and “mine” to be united with the Lord. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality.”
A cardinal feature of Islam points to this reality, which is notwithstanding Allah’s creation of the human species to manifest the qualities of love and altruism. Because of our disobedience and a drift away from the Creator’s intention, many of us are infected by Satan, whose nature is pure self –centeredness, hence we face the predicament that in order to restore our original selves, we must first deny our existing selves that are stained by satanic elements.
A substantial portion of citizens of Georgetown are Christians. In the first Book of the Holy Bible, Genesis, we read the story because he was hungry, Esau unwittingly sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a mess of pottage.
This is a paltry sum when one considers the destruction and desecration of one of the few remaining public open spaces in our Capital. Dear Councillor, beyond that, we must not ignore the prospect that this arrangement can quite likely be encircled as being fueled by filthy lucre.
This is not a simple matter and I am yet to believe that those who understand the need for planning, ancestral piety and the need to secure the integrity of the Capital with many challenges would continue to agitate and hope that this bad decision can be reversed and secure the honour of the Mayor and Councillors of Georgetown.
Regards
Hamilton Green
