Dear Editor,

Please refer to a letter which appeared in your Stabroek News issue of Friday, December 5, 2008: ‘Georgetown must be one of the dirtiest cities in the world,’ by Mr Clive Fredericks. We are aware of this challenge and have been doing all things practicable to change what has apparently become a culture among some of our people. It is so wrong to mess up the city with all kinds of rubbish and yet people appear not to be even bothered by the unfriendly environmental action of indiscriminately dumping the stuff wherever they very well please.

For the Mayor and City Council it is not an easy task. We spend about one million dollars per day to collect and dispose of garbage from every area in the city of Georgetown. For this year, solid waste management accounted for 17% of our total expenditure. In addition, we spend another 34 million dollars in related public health activities, including environmental health, vector control and city sanitation. We did not mention the challenges we face in addressing the needs of other sections because we are forced to divert scarce resources to clean up the garbage on the parapets and other waste around the city. It is a shame that our disposal habits are not compatible with the push for development and prosperity in our country.

However, we have said in previous communications, that the problem of litter and improper disposal is a symptom of a wider problem; that problem is the lack of positive civic-attitudes on the part of some of our citizens. It is striking that we love to bask in the glory of other cities, which have one thing that is sadly lacking in our communities – their citizens have a respect for the law and the environment.

Almost every day, public relations receives complaints about the attitudes of citizens towards their neighbours and their general surroundings. They throw their tree trimmings on the parapet, at the front of their neighbour’s yard; they dump derelict vehicles on any parapet or in any open field; in the city they allow their storm water to run into the yard next door, and the list goes on and on. Some citizens do not want to speak out for fear of being abused by the perpetrators of such unkind acts.

Look at what some citizens, including some businessmen, who can do better, are doing to the litter bins which were installed in the city in a collaborative effort between the private sector and the council. They are filling them with garbage that should otherwise be properly stored and removed by our Solid Waste Management Department. Many businessmen pay very small amounts of money to those who have veered off the normal side of life, to throw their garbage anywhere out of their sight.

In the end, the city gets the blame. But it is unfair to hold the municipality accountable for the attitude and behaviour of citizens towards the environment, particularly in circumstances where in spite of our very narrow revenue base we are trying our utmost. Perhaps, we need to do more in the area of law enforcement to arrest and prosecute those litterbugs. But the process to prosecute them is so cumbersome that it blunts our effort. This is the reason why, some time ago, we had asked for a municipal court to treat council matters with dispatch.

Notwithstanding that, citizens must begin to see the physical condition of their local communities as a personal responsibility. This is exactly what we were trying to do when we encouraged residents in different areas to organize themselves into community development groups and work together to improve conditions in their communities. We believe that the situation can change. However, it requires civic commitment by all and in particular a sense of social responsibility on the part of businesses to keep Georgetown clean and tidy.

Yours faithfully,
Royston King
Public Relations Officer
Mayor and Councillors
City of Georgetown