One thing is sure, a garbage collectors’ strike in Georgetown would be crippling. The city has been there before, more than once, and every effort should be made to ensure that it never happens again. What would be even worse, is if such a strike occurred towards the end of the year when the volume of garbage increases to perhaps four times what is normally disposed of, owing to the annual Christmas cleaning when old linoleum, carpets, rugs and other such items are thrown out.
The Mayor and City Council and its private waste disposal contractors, Puran Brothers Disposal Inc and Cevons Waste Management, have been on this roller coaster for what must now be going on ‘donkey’s’ years. It spun, rose and fell throughout the life of the former council, taking the citizens of Georgetown along for the dizzying ride. It is time to stop. However, this will prove difficult as this council is no better than the previous one at managing resources; it is possible that it is worse. At least the former council could use the excuse that it was starved of funds by the then government.
For what must have been the umpteenth time, Puran and Cevons threatened to withdraw their services unless they are paid the hundreds of millions of dollars outstanding to them for their garbage collection and disposal services in Georgetown. That withdrawal was scheduled to take effect on Monday last and many citizens greeted the dawning of that day with much trepidation, only to be able to exhale when their bins were emptied as normal.
It was later learned that they had been asked and had agreed to give the city a one-week extension to secure the necessary funding. And how does the city intend to get the money it owes Puran and Cevons? By asking central government for a $600 million bailout. According to the rationale, this money would be used to pay off the garbage contractors, pay salaries in a timely fashion (for this month at least) and in “preparation of the city for the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Harry.” This was the explanation given by APNU Councillor Junior Garrett who moved a motion to that effect at the M&CC’s statutory meeting on Monday.
In true City Hall fashion, this stop-gap proposal was the only one on the table. There was no alternative plan for the city if government refused to fund the bailout, nor was any strategy presented for running the city once the bailout money was spent and while the council awaits the approval of its 2017 budget. There was not even a hint that strategies would be devised to ensure that the $600 million requested would truly be a one-off.
There are several things that are wrong with this. In the first place, the central government is neither a commercial financial institution, nor is it a philanthropic or benevolent organisation. The money the central government spends or squanders comes one way or another from the pockets of taxpayers. This bailout will mean therefore that citizens who are model ratepayers will pay twice, while defaulters sit back and come up with more ways to beat the system.
In the second place, the M&CC cannot offer any guarantee that the $600 million bailout will be spent in the way Garrett claimed it would. There has been a ridiculous wastage of funds at City Hall with money being spent on harebrained schemes hatched by goodness knows whom and implemented under current Town Clerk Royston King, who has a tendency to be a law unto himself.
One does not have far to look for a case in point. Last year, central government gave City Hall $300 million that was to go towards cleaning the city. This was after central government and individual citizens and some members of the private sector joined resources and began undoing Georgetown’s former beggarly state. Central government, we can recall, had concerns over how that $300 million grant was spent and had taken a decision just last month to conduct an audit into how it was spent.
The results of that audit are not yet known, but Auditor General Deodat Sharma had raised concerns prior to that over the $6.2 million which was expended on the purchase of a double cab pick-up for the City Constabulary and the unavailability of supporting documents for several contracts for the weeding of parapets, desilting of drains and cutting down trees in various areas around Georgetown.
A drive along Church Street or North Road reminds citizens of the grandiose ‘presidential park’ that was begun on a section of the Merriman Mall. And plans were also announced that included installing petting zoos around the city, in particular at the Promenade Garden and Merriman Mall. Luckily for all Georgetown residents the funds seemed to have run out before those plans could be executed.
With this in mind, if the central government does agree to a bailout, whatever sum agreed to should be paid directly to creditors of the city to prevent further squandermania. In addition, the city administrators must show the citizens, to whom they are accountable, how they plan to keep Georgetown debt free. The pie-in-the-sky parking meter system, which is not guaranteed to work should not form part of the proposed revenue stream. Running the city on hot air has gone on long enough. This nonsense must stop.
