Dear Editor,
I travelled to the Mackenzie, Wismar and Christianburg area – all of which were referred to as Mac city – by way of the RH Carr (Ralph Hamilton Carr) steamer in the year 1955. I was only six years old. In those days these areas were properly administered and well taken care of by the Demerara Bauxite Company (Demba) and a group of good, honest, caring men and women who were called the Local Authority and not the Mayor and Town Council.
Some of those persons were R G Sharples, J Delapara, Festus Adams and James Mosely, who were formed into a hard-working group and who were very concerned about development, the cleanliness of our hospital, schools, roads, housing, garbage disposal and collection, etc, etc, etc.
Mackenzie, Wismar and Christianburg were merged into a town in the year 1970 with a Mayor and Town Council replacing the Local Authority. It comprised people with high moral standing in our society, for example teachers, businessmen and women, politicians, lawyers, the high and mighty and the list goes on and on. Linden town was named after our late President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham.
Today Linden town stinks with garbage all over, while members of the Interim Management Committee and the Town Clerk continue to fight over who is the boss, who should do what, who should or shouldn’t sign a document, while the workers along with Lindeners in general suffer. Heaps of garbage can be seen in the Mackenzie market area, along streets and even in front of our Linden Museum.
Burnham Drive (Bamboo Circle), Wismar and Fourth Street Silvertown, appear to be the dumpsites for Linden garbage.
Sometimes, history becomes a term of reference when we disagree on complicated issues. During the Burnham era, I remember quite vividly, members from the armed forces were deployed to Linden town to carry out a cleaning exercise, which was met with some criticism from the public. However, that was done. Linden town appeared clean and we were a happy people. The Mayor and Town Council is ill equipped to deal with garbage collection and disposal and other essential services.
There is an old saying, ‘Where there is an absence of law, lawlessness is king.’ No one has ever been prosecuted in Linden for littering. It must start now. We need public lectures and slogans posted. From the moment we leave our dear land of Guyana, our nasty and untidy attitudes change immediately. Some people would blame politics for doing the wrong things, but do we make decisions based on our conscience? If not, it is time for all of us to get our acts together and start doing the right things; if we don’t all will be consumed and all will suffer irrespective of colour, race, political persuasion or creed. This land belongs to us, and we should keep it clean for our own sake.
Yours faithfully,
Winslow Parris
