Following recent criticisms from Albouystown residents who were hit by severe flooding, the Local Government Ministry is defending the work done in the community under the ‘Clean-Up My Country’ programme and saying that without it the flooding would have been worse.
In the aftermath of heavy rains between November 19 and November 20, Albouystown was inundated like other parts of the city and the coast.
Referring to a report published in the November 22nd edition of the Stabroek News, which detailed criticisms of the clean-up activity, the Ministry accused residents of changing their “chants of praise” while they were reaping the benefits of the exercise to “chants of sheer lambaste” in light of the flooding.
According to the Ministry, there is no denying that people have suffered tremendous losses from the flood and Minister Norman Whittaker and his staff empathise with all whose homes were flooded and whose belongings were damaged. “What the Ministry is not sympathetic towards,” it, however, added in a statement, “is that people who were and are still beneficiaries of the “Clean-Up My Country” Programme… have blatantly misrepresented what the programme is designed to achieve.”
The first aim of the exercise, according to the Ministry, was to improve the aesthetics of the community through the removal of the garbage, clearing of alleyways and drains and removal of overgrown vegetation.
The other aim, was to improve the sanitation of communities by weeding and removing silt from alleyways, internal drains and by extension garbage.
According to the Ministry, Albouystown, which spans 15 blocks in its entirety, was effectively cleaned and four feet of silt were removed during the exercise.
It added that this allowed for increased depth/ capacity of the drains and alleyways, thus reducing the swelling that would have taken place otherwise during the rainfall and as a result the water took four days to recede after the flood.
The Ministry said too that the activity also benefitted Albouystown in other ways. These included the removal of 300 truckloads of garbage and silt from 13 alleyways and the creation of jobs for over 70 young people from the community and the payout of over $8 to the workers.
Referring to the Stabroek News report where a resident said that “it’s only because poor people strong we ain’t sick yet,” the Ministry said the fact that there was no reported case of illness must be credited to the community clean-up.
