Dear Editor,
City residents exist in a state of tenterhooks. They are forced to sleep weekly with one eye open and both ears to the ground. Literally! It is because residents are surveying the horizon with great care, and listening closely for the telltale rumble of trucks. It is garbage time; or it should have been.
I begin by sharing that I had a garbage collection experience recently compliments of City Hall that is best reserved for later. If touched upon now, the paper edition of Stabroek News might be consumed. That is the degree of burning anger remaining. But I digress.
Residents are anxious and concerned about timely and consistent garbage collection. In view of past experiences, their worries are not misplaced. Now I am well aware that City Hall is responsible for collection in the capital, but this does not matter to me. Big government has to be watching and involved at arm’s length constantly, so as to prevent any garbage situation from sliding out of control. In other words, central government must be actively engaged in driving the garbage bus, in this case truck, reeking and as undesirable as that might be.
This is because City Hall can neither be trusted nor relied upon to fulfil its mandate for numerous reasons, some unprintable, many unacceptable. In fact, City Hall’s record, historical and current, does not induce comfort, particularly as such applies to the time bomb of garbage. Citizens are apprehensive over this time bomb that (compliments of the junkies or street people) can end up naked and festering in the street, stripped of metal or plastic container now stolen; and of being the unwelcoming hosts of other people’s refuse dumped in their vicinity, which are all byproducts of late or no garbage collection arrangements. All of this begins and ends with City Hall.
To give an idea of where things stand, depending on the day and who is asked, City Hall is looked upon nowadays as a running joke, a sick joke, or a dirty joke. Or some combination of all three, except that nobody is laughing. When the health and wellbeing of family and fellow citizens are at risk (high risk) to only the power above knows, it has to be central government either on perpetual standby, or running to the rescue. It must monitor continuously the situation, and intervene to commandeer some semblance of sanity and bring psychological relief to an ugly unhappy set of circumstances. Of course, nobody would be happier than the powers at the municipality, since the burden of performance would have been assumed elsewhere. Call it delegation by abstention.
In a letter titled, ‘Central government cannot allow the garbage strike to happen’ (SN, August 22), I cautioned, if not urged, that central government must be on guard, and be ready to act. Today, I beat the same tom-toms again to avoid the capital city being transformed into Haag’s Bosch. I plan to be unceasing in vigilance, and unrelenting in tabling publicly any failure by any involved (or interested) party in remedying a perpetually troubling situation.
I share the call of some citizens that garbage removal is best left in the hands of the private contractors Puran Bros and Cevons Waste Management. And it cannot be in the business district alone. But they have to be paid, and it is not 1% of what is outstanding. That is not only insulting, but yet another City Hall joke. It is one that is as flat as it is stupid. Also, other arrangements outside of these two agencies have proven to be ill-conceived, insubstantial, and generally empty-headed. They just do not work, even in the shortest of short terms. And there must be a stop to this foolishness about collection here and not over there; it will be done today, and then not next month, and so on and so forth. Partnership, credibility, and adaptability are what are required. Of course, there is the problem of deliverability.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
