Keeping the city clean

Over the years a lot has been said about continuity and at first glance one might say it’s a word that means absolutely nothing to the stewards of Georgetown, or the central government for that matter, and this covers all those who have considered themselves suitable to govern both city and country over the last few decades. Yet, at intervals, there are oft repeated events that can make one think ‘not again’ and perhaps therein lies some consistency.

One such was the announcement this week via a press release that the Private Sector Commission (PSC) was partnering with the central government for a “massive cleanup” of George-town on January 15 and 16. For reasons that are surely among the world’s worst kept secrets, cleaning Georgetown appears to be a task that can only be undertaken when the city reaches pigsty status, floods owing to clogged canals and requires a Herculean effort to regain some semblance of order. One can imagine the monumental spending that is then required to whip it into shape so that, to quote Chairman of the PSC Paul Cheong, “Guyanese and tourists alike can transact their business in a cleaner and more comfortable environment”.

This week’s cleanup exercise will include desilting main canals and clearing garbage from West Front Road, Cemetery Road, Sheriff, Hadfield, D’Urban, Saffon, Church and Sussex streets among other areas, which one imagines include the surrounds of the municipal markets as well as heavy vending locales like Regent and Water streets. The clean conditions might last a few weeks, but if there is no plan for maintenance – and none has been mentioned – it will all revert to what it looks like today in a short time.

This case of chronic “let’s make a big noise and clean up the city” does not need a formal diagnosis to have it declared the sick antithesis of what should be. But maybe because it has become a pattern, citizens have become apathetic to it. Smothered in refuse, its canals choked with both garbage and mud, Georgetown last underwent a ‘massive cleanup’ just after the APNU+AFC Coalition won the May 11, 2015 elections. The transformation was electric. Flooding ceased because clean canals meant the rainwater could quickly drain away. Then there was the ‘Captain Clean’ figure who went about inspiring citizens to maintain the clean environment.

It did not last. Once the central government shifted its attention, the decay began again. It has been pointed out numerous times in this column and elsewhere that City Hall is patently unable to manage solid waste disposal in Georgetown and by extension cannot maintain the city’s environmental aesthetic. The reason is economics 101: Georgetown has become far too large both in terms of size (wards have been added and boundaries extended) and population and its revenue collection has remained too meagre.

Try as they might to deny it, previous PPP/C administrations had made a point of ignoring Georgetown’s economic inefficiencies and leaving it in squalor. The default reason being that City Hall was squandering funds. However, even with a government- imposed Interim Management Committee in place, as was the case just over a decade ago, Georgetown was not at its best. The truth is that the city has long been a political football in what could best be described as a childish tit for tat. It is a game no one wins. Citizens lose when their homes and businesses are flooded as a result of clogged drains. Georgetown loses when it is constantly dubbed the ‘garbage city’. And how can the central government win when its seat and the country’s business, cultural, and population centre is an embarrassing smorgasbord of garbage? Every major international envoy to Guyana conducts business in Georgetown. None of them are blind. Denying that the government is starving the Mayor and City Council of resources, like President Irfaan Ali did last May and accusing that body of being delinquent does not absolve the central government of its own responsibility towards Georgetown.

Having said all that, however, the facts remain the same. A one-off politically expedient ‘massive cleanup’ will only last so long. Georgetown needs constant maintenance to ensure its status as ‘garden city’ – that includes scheduled weekly cleaning and clearing of garbage and monthly desilting of drains and canals. This requires huge outlays of funds which must come from the correct amount of taxes paid into the city’s coffers; a concept that the PSC must ensure all its members accept and follow.

The word capital originates from the Latin capitalis, which means “of the head”. This extrapolates to the capital city being the head of the country, which is why in almost every territory in the world, it hosts the seat of the government. As the seat of a government offering prosperity to its citizens, the capital should shine. If the government claims to be one of unity, then the capital must also reflect that.

As a 240-odd year old dame (Britannica.com) surely Georgetown deserves better than to be subjected to the whims and fancies of politicians. Consistency and continuity must be the goalposts for keeping this city clean.