This week we asked the man and woman in the street their thoughts on the build up of garbage around the city and what roles they think citizens should play in rectifying this problem. In addition, they were asked if the Government’s proposal of an Interim Management Committee was appropriate or if the Mayor and City Council should be given another chance to clean up their act.
Interviews and photos
by Frances Abraham
Carol Orna- Public Sector
‘First of all, I think the Government should check the policies which guide the Mayor and City Council in how to do their work. They should check all the ways in which this situation can be corrected because it is not one or two times, you find many times that the Mayor and City Council have a problem, garbage pile up, workers not being paid, contractors not being paid… I think they should sit and have a discussion with all persons who are involved with the disposal of garbage. They can probably have a committee to overlook the work of the M&CC. The citizens need to know the rules about littering and if they do this, they should be charged but this current situation with the dumping, people must remember that Georgetown is not what it was years ago, the buildings are close and you really don’t have anywhere to burn.’
Shellane Eastman-
`There is one basic answer for the role of citizens in a situation like this which is stop contributing to what everyone is doing, like stop walking and throwing a bag on the roads. Also, what we can do is assist with cleaning. Not because it is known that the Mayor and City Council supposed to do it but we need to take things into our own hands and ensure at least our surrounding area is clean because we are all living here, if anything goes wrong such as an outbreak of a disease, we all can be affected. The reason for those trucks not going out is because they are not being paid so the government should take some form of responsibility and have these people paid but if they find it necessary to introduce the IMC, they should do that, it might be better.’
Michella Abraham-Ali- Media Personality
`It is indeed a very sad state of affairs because our garden city really looks awful, it’s filthy, it’s smelly, it’s almost at every road corner you can find a huge pile of garbage. As citizens we have to be a little bit more careful of how we dispose of our garbage, talking about everything from plastic wares, even our personal disposal. I think there was some talk about how persons can regulate how much garbage they use and if they have an exorbitant amount like business people, maybe pay an additional charge. I believe that the Mayor and City Council as the regulatory body ought to have a plan. If they are ineffective then perhaps the reconsideration of management in place is not a bad idea and if the IMC can be implemented for a period and if they can work then the government can view it as a long term thing. But the way we treat our environment is very sad and everybody has a role to play, it’s not just the IMC or the government, all Guyanese have a role to play.’
Kenisha Haley- Student
`I think the citizens should march for the problem to be fixed because there is no place for people to dispose of their garbage and that is why this problem exists. Burning as an alternative is not very sensible as it is polluting the air and causing global warming. The government should clean up the city and leave the maintenance up to the Mayor and City Council because it will be the same thing. The IMC will face the same issues that the M&CC is facing.’
Lynette Arjoon- Vendor
‘I can say that the garbage that some people dump at the Stabroek Market is terrible and very untidy. People coming and dump their garbage there and every day go it got one heap so and one heap here and we gotta clean up and brush up the place or pay a junkie to clean it. People are supposed to put their garbage in bags and find somewhere to put it not dump it everywhere because you can’t burn either, there’s no where to burn. I think the government should go ahead with the committee because nothing ain’t doing with the Mayor and City Council. If the government clean the place up and leave the rest up to the M&CC is the same thing gon happen again.’
Lambert Robertson- Public Sector
`Firstly, I think citizens should be more responsible because they can’t just dump their garbage anywhere and leave it all up to the Mayor and City Council to take care of. They need to be more responsible in their disposal of garbage. We also need to teach our children to be more responsible in this regard. I think we need the IMC for a change. We need to see what the committee can do in terms of rectifying the problem because the Mayor and City Council have been there for a long time and things are not getting better so I think they should give the committee a try.’
Andre Lewis- Teacher
`I think there need to be stricter laws in place to ensure first of all, that citizens respect the environment and keep it for what it is and what it can be. We need to be aware that Guyana is trying to promote tourism and it doesn’t really help on any level to have garbage around. Then, there are issues of contracts not being paid. That needs to be addressed. The Mayor and City Council had a responsibility and part of it was to look after the garbage situation and they didn’t fulfill that. The fact that we have the problem shows that they have failed somehow.
Naomi Richards- Public Sector
‘Most citizens are becoming frustrated at the fact that their garbage cannot be uplifted at regular intervals and this is resulting in this build-up we are seeing. The Mayor and City Council can help reduce this by establishing more facilities to dispose of garbage in the various communities. I think the IMC should be implemented and soon before this problem gets worse. New committee, new people, new orders, new management and maybe better actions will be taken.’
Dellon Peters- Private Sector
`I’m not sure where the plans are with the Mayor and City Council and the Government in terms of allocating a budget to fix the issue but it is depressing. I think the M&CC should be cleaned up inside so that they can move forward with the clean up of the city. Our garden city is dubbed garbage city by people who visit and have need to pass what looks like a landfill in the La Penitence area obliquely opposite GNPL. I am not saying it is right to dump garbage on the streets but it serves as a protest for lack of garbage collection by the people we thought were responsible for it. Also, I believe stronger penalties should be imposed on littering and garbage disposal should be more accessible.’
Shannon Green- Student
‘First of all, it’s a known fact that the city would be a much cleaner place if every citizen played their part and acted more responsibly. However, the government did put a system in place to get rid of the city’s waste, making the issue of dumping a somewhat understandable resort due to the failure of that system. I think the government should intervene by financing a clean-up campaign and work along with the Mayor and City Council since they were responsible for the maintenance of the city for quite some time.’
