Last week a phalanx of government ministers appeared in close formation to face the residents of South Georgetown. At a long table there sat Ministers of Housing and Water Collin Croal and Susan Rodrigues, Public Works Ministers Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Local Government Nigel Dharmalall and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson. Exactly why it needed seven ministers to unveil a proposal to relieve the drainage problems of the area was not immediately obvious, particularly since the actual presentation was done by Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Lionel Wordsworth. Maybe it was assumed that such a multitude of senior officials would by their presence give any argument they sought to prefer greater force.
As far as the technical issues were concerned, Mr Wordsworth announced that the government would be cleaning and desilting 20 alleyways between North and South Ruimveldt at a cost of $40 million, an exercise which would have to be done manually because the area could not accommodate machinery. The task, he said, would be procured in lots. He explained that they were in the final stage of studies to upgrade the facilities in Festival City and North Ruimveldt in order to add drainage capacity, as well as clearing the channel which drains through the River’s View pump. They had already completed cleaning works between Cemetery Road and Mandela Avenue, he said.
Like many citizens who live along this country’s sometimes water-logged coastal strip, the residents of South Georgetown demonstrated a good understanding of drainage questions, and had various suggestions to put forward. It was Mr Shaun Benn, however, a resident of the area who suggested that culverts be installed at major junctions to improve drainage. “We have the Aubrey Barker road and all the other connecting roads but there is no connection between the streets,” he was quoted as saying: “The water keeps running round and round and going no place … We want you to know if you are doing infrastructure work we want culverts on all the streets. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time paying out money and not adding value to the money,” he said.
He was applauded by the others in the audience, and in fairness it was said a technical team would return later on the same day to consider changes to the proposal before finalising it. Whether culverts were subsequently included in the plan is not known.
Minister Mustapha did later agree to work with the community in the matter of labour, after residents had demanded that local people be employed instead of bringing in workers from outside. The community had the labour available, they said, and they were willing to engage with project coordinators to desilt and clear. Mr Mustapha did insist, however, that anyone desirous of bidding for a contract would have to be registered as a business in Guyana. His assurances that outsiders would not be brought in to carry out the work received an expression of approval from the audience. He also made reference to executing a maintenance contract once the work was completed to prevent blockages of drains and alleyways.
Residents did raise other areas of concern, and particularly where housing was concerned some response was forthcoming. But if there was a degree of accord between the residents and government representatives on these matters, not surprisingly the political dimension proved more problematic. It was Mr Benn again who alluded to the gravamen of the political issue, accusing the government of bypassing the elected council by foisting their plan on the community and undermining the councillors. Residents had elected council members to represent their rights and interests, he said, but that was impeded by government intervention.
“We are demanding that the government treat the City Council with the respect that it deserves. That it bestow upon them the deserved subvention so that they can do the work they were elected to do… We have to stop playing politics because it is getting us nowhere, it is ripping the country apart,” Mr Benn told the line-up of ministers while his fellow residents applauded. He went on to say that “the government’s treatment of the City Council is a far cry from its One Guyana initiative which was created to promote unity and equal treatment among Guyanese.”
It was Minister Edghill who took it upon himself to respond: “What central government is attempting to do is as a result of the failure of the City Council,” he said. The residents were having none of it, and they loudly told Mr Edghill the money should be handed over to the Council to execute the works. The articulate Mr Benn added, “Give them the resources and let them start… you are throwing away money,” after which he shouted “good governance!”
The whole encounter was far better than any so-called debate in the House of Assembly.
What is clear from this is that the residents of the area fully grasped the nature of the political game PPP/C governments have played with the capital over the years, a game for which there has been a great deal of evidence recently. They may not follow all the detailed ins and outs of this city game, probably because they don’t read government press releases, but they nevertheless have an innate understanding of the principles underlying the years of confrontation between local and central government, which among other things has resulted in exposing them to regular flooding.
One might have thought that after 23 years the government would have come to the conclusion that their tactics in relation to the capital were a failure, but it appears they have learnt nothing. Most recently, there was the Prime Minister Mark Phillips accusing the M&CC of dereliction of duty in relation to the maintaining the drainage infrastructure of the capital, and Mayor Ubraj Narine of “unabated political gamesmanship”. This in circumstances where the central government holds the power, the money and, indirectly, has control of senior municipal appointees. So if any of them do not perform as they are supposed to, it is not the City Council which can do anything about it. Who, any outsider would ask, is playing the political games?
In fairness to the Prime Minister he did eventually meet with the Mayor, and there was some understanding reached. However, that apparently did not suit the old guard in Freedom House, and shortly after there was Minister Mustapha going over the same terrain as the Prime Minister and complaining about similar things. Referring to the sluices and pumps in the city, Mr Mustapha said: “This blatant neglect is becoming a pattern and it is time for people living in Georgetown who continue to be affected by flooding when these structures are not managed effectively to hold the relevant authorities at the M&CC accountable.”
The Mayor has gone on record as saying that drainage comes under City Engineer Colvern Venture, and that the Council has lost confidence in him and has asked the Local Government Commission since last year to remove him. Months later there has been no response. It must be said that Mr Colvern has denied the accusations against him. That aside, as said earlier, the City Council does not have the power to discipline, appoint or remove senior officials of the municipality, so if there is dereliction on the part of any one of them the Mayor and the Council can do nothing about it.
As has been said many times before, the central government cannot get control of the City Council, although it can prevent it from functioning, which is what it has been doing for 25 years. And now government ministers have heard the truth from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, and the residents of South Georgetown have told them they reject the game they are playing.
This is not to say that the City Council itself is a blameless, efficient entity; it is just to say that it cannot be held accountable for what it doesn’t control. It was anything but impressive during the period when the coalition was in office. That said, as this newspaper has maintained before, most recently in our leader of last Thursday, there has to be an accommodation between the government and the M&CC if the city is to make any progress.
Over the longer term perhaps a suggestion mooted in our editorial in January about having a professional manager run the administration of the city and leaving the councillors to deal with policy would be worth exploring, although given our present framework, the bureaucratic and legal details would not necessarily be easy to work out. As things stand, however, what is needed right now is for the government to heed the residents of South Georgetown and adjust their actions accordingly. We do not need political games in local government.
