Central Government Undermined Georgetown’s Progress

Dear Editor,

Over the weekend we have had articles, including letters in the independent media, bemoaning the unhappy state of our capital city Georgetown. I have no difficulty with the sentiments expressed and over time have dealt with the matter ad nauseam. Briefly I state the following facts;

1. At the 1994 elections for the municipality of Georgetown, with supporters, I headed the GGG – Good and Green Georgetown, defeated the Hoyte led PNC and the incumbent PPP, GGG – 12seats, PNC – 10 seats, PPP – 8 seats.
2. Because of my activism, I earned the nickname of “Action Green”
3. Elected to office it was clear that rates and taxes, could not provide the money to effectively provide drainage, irrigation, maintenance of canals, sluices, etc. for a city below sea-level. And the maintenance of an abattoir, garbage collection and disposal, in a city with the influx of new residence from non-urban communities, and breach of building codes, the nuisance of plastic bags and containers, the maintenance of municipal markets, daycare centres. When I proposed a lottery as a means of earning additional revenue for the council, this was opposed by the government, the rest is history. When we proposed the banning of plastics we ran into a brick-wall.
4. We established a bicycle squad had someone come in to train the ranks, same story. Parking meters same story.
5. Later with the support of the PPP government, an internationally acclaimed town planner, Professor Akbar Khan, was asked to examine Georgetown and provide a redevelopment plan to restores Georgetown. Professor Khan met all sectors security, private, business, educational, etc and came up with what he called a “master plan” for Georgetown, this meant changing the location of the bus park etc. As part of the process, we identified and had trained, after consultation with members of the council, thirty persons who we called wardens to interact with members of the thirty identified areas of Greater Georgetown. At that time there was no Local Government Commission, this meant that the minister exercised a steel-fist through the Town Clerk.

The above are just bits of information for the media and citizens to make their own judgement. A pattern observed recently when central government, without even the pretence of consultation, has taken over facilities and streets managed by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council before and after Independence.

Yours truly,
Elder Hamilton Green