Govt Denies Housing Programme in Shambles
BY SHARIEF KHAN
GOVERNMENT last week denied its housing programme was “a rather dismal picture” and claimed it has a “well-conceptualised and organised plan.”
Parliamentary Secretary Mr. Leroy Scotland, chosen to defend the State’s housing programme against scathing opposition attacks in Parliament, called the opposition motion “baseless.”
He referred to the building of claybrick roads and the development of wooden blades for glass louvre substitutes as examples of the drive to ensure that “shelter is within the reach of the small man.”
Scotland’s maiden speech in Parliament was well-delivered but he was hard put to counter charges from Mrs. Janet Jagan of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Mr. Eusi Kwayana of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).
“The plight of the lower income groups should be of serious concern to all of us,” Mrs. Jagan advocated. She said the housing shortage had created “extremely difficult conditions for all” but felt it impacted more adversely on the unemployed and the under-employed.
She claimed there was almost no housing available in Georgetown to the middle and lower income groups. Most workers have as a result been forced into the environs, she said.
“This famous man who was going to be a ‘real man’ is going through severe burdens and is suffering from very poor housing conditions,” she charged.
Mrs. Jagan accused government of not providing funds for housing and of using available finances to “keep the bureaucracy in place.”
She suggested the State should construct a certain number of low rental units every year and subsidise the prices for low income groups. The private sector, she said, was building for the high income group, and the ‘nouveau riche’ was putting up ‘grand and beautiful’ homes.
“We need a positive programme for public housing,” she said and criticised the current 14 per cent interest rate housing loans currently attract.
Mrs. Jagan also called the $15,000 housing loan extended by the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund (SILWF) as too small. “Fifteen thousand dollars can’t even fill a dray cart with wood, she declared and disclosed that out of 16,749 loan applications the Fund approved last year, loans were granted to only four persons.
Mr. Kwayana called the housing issue “a very painful question” and said many persons, mainly in Georgetown, live a nomadic existence.
“Many are suffering great personal humiliation as a result of this housing question,” he said.
Kwayana suggested government action against the high cost of building materials and asked: “Why can’t the government financial geniuses devise a financial revolving fund for housing?”
He felt a facility could be created out of the excess liquidity plaguing banks.
CONDITIONS
Government, he pointed out, is hemmed in by obligations in the constitution on the right to housing.
“We have a clear policy and constitutional foundation for the kind of action the motion is calling for,” he argued.
Scotland however, contended that the 1986 Meadowbrook Gardens housing scheme was “a watershed for the tremendous housing programme which followed.” He disclosed over $2,2m has been spent by government to develop 28 aided self-help units at De Kenderen on the West Coast, Demerara and said government had made many efforts to develop housing.
Where Have All The Barbers Gone?
Young Men Have No Interest In The Trade
Razor Blade Cutters, Beauty Salons Have Taken Over
LOTS OF things have happened to our barbers; none of them good.
Stabroek News spoke to a few barbers to find out why the famous “round the corner barbers” have been steadily disappearing.
ALL THE barbers we spoke with complained that the tools used in their trade are very difficult to acquire. If by chance they see a tool, to purchase it is usually beyond the reach of their pockets. In any case, the tools available in this country are not durable, they claim.
One barber declared: “If you can show me a good razor, I’ll buy it for $300.”
Another said sadly: “When these tools you see here are finished, I have to close down my business.”
They claim the rent they have to pay for their shops are too high. One said that in many cases barbers are evicted to allow the shops to be rented to more profitable tenants.
When barbers grow too old for the trade, the younger generation seems reluctant to take over. “They look at the job as kind of low grade, but that is not so at all.
“Most young men look for prestige and not finance,” a barber explained.
He wondered if prestige could upkeep a family and added that when a barber dies there is usually no one willing or able to take his place.
The barbers said that youths and men these days seem to appreciate the ‘lady look’ kind of hair styles not done by most traditional barbers.
One said: “I have been cutting hair for more than 30 years and a get irritated when men come for a ‘punk’ cut.” He added: “I don’t even understand what they mean by that sometimes.”
Some of the fashionable hairstyles for men offered by the women’s hair dressing salons which provide strong competition for the barbers are the Jerry curl, the sport waves, the S curls, the shag cut, the flat top, punk and cold waving.
A popular hair dressing salon said that over the years the amount of men patronising them has increased over 75 percent.
They say they have men ranging from the age of 15 to around 55 who come to their salons.
“Men these days are very fashionable and they come to hair dressing salons for ‘classy’ hair styles,” one salon owner boasted.
Barbers also suffer competition from what is termed, “the road side or razor blade barbers.” These are people who set up a chair at the road corner and cut hair for a fee. Legal barbers say the authorities should do something about these people.
They also pointed out that these “razor blade” barbers are illegal. They all said that licensed barbers have to submit to annual medical examinations and be certified fit to practise their trade. Their premises too have to pass rigid inspection by the health authorities, and none of these requirements apply to the “road-side” barbers.
Harper Cops Top Sports Award
NATIONAL cricket captain Roger Harper has been named Sportsman of the Year. He ousted last year’s awardee Garfield Wiltshire who had to settle for the runner-up spot.
Terrence Alli, Caribbean Junior Badminton champ Shawn Barnwell and stylish opening batsmen Sudesh Dhaniram came in for honourable mention.
After some deliberation, the nine panellists decided that middle distance athlete Laurie Ann Adams be named Sportswoman of the Year and bodybuilder Beverley Hunte runner-up. Adams holds a record 29 consecutive wins in as many starts.
The Squash Racquets Association retained the Best Association award after being virtually unchallenged.
Chairman of the panel Ken D’Abreu lamented the non-submission of nominations for this award and suggested that some investigation should be gone into in order to ascertain the reason for the continued absence of nominations by some associations.
There was no nominee for Female Personality of the Year. Donald Sinclair got the nod over Norman McLean for the Male Sports Personality of the Year spot with Guyana Cricket Board of Control Secretary – David Jordan receiving Honourable Mention.
