“Institutions must work; when people fail you the institutions must never fail you,” formed part of President Irfaan Ali remarks when he met yesterday with residents of Dowding Street and neighbouring areas in Kitty during which poor drainage was cited as a major problem.
He was joined by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson; new Minister of Local Government, Sonia Parag; Minister in the Ministry of Local Government, Anand Persaud; Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar; and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy. Also present were representatives from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority.
Upon his arrival at around 7.40 am, President Ali interacted with the residents present. “The reason we are here is that this is part of our agenda to ensure that we uplift the lives of people in every community and that we invest in improving the conditions under which you live and addressing directly the concerns and the challenges you are facing also in the different wards and sections of our city”, he said.
He reminded the residents that the PPP/C councillors and ministers who campaigned in the local government elections had promised that they would have a strong and robust community-oriented strategy. As such, he commended Minister Persaud, and the city councillors for delivering on those promises.
“I want you the residents to know that this morning we are here to do the same; we are here to interact with you and hear your perspective but more importantly to involve you in the development of the ideas and solutions.”
He urged residents to speak up since they know the problems better than anyone and getting them fixed is a top priority for him and his councillors.
“Today we’ll spend some time walking in various localities and within one week, the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Public Works will commence a plan and implement a robust plan to deal with the challenges,” President Ali said.
An elderly resident was the first to speak on the drainage issue “It is a privilege to have you here we have some issues with drainage and the alley water don’t run and it flood up the yard some people build up some big, big concrete in the drain and I need you to look into that.”
Another resident from Owen Street, Kitty, brought to the president’s attention the damage being caused by infrastructure works. “Right now we have some infrastructure work that is going on there [and as a result] we have a lot of damages on lots 12 and 13.” She explained that works are being done and her house is shaking. “Yesterday they were digging there again and the place is shaking”.
She informed him that her land is also sinking. “The whole place has gone down by 18 inches. I have trees and plants that also is going down.”
After hearing her concerns, the president promised to look at her issues. “I want you to understand that something like drainage is important in the city. It is not like we just digging a trench, the engineers went back and looked at historical records to know what is needed based on what we are faced with. They have a design and an opinion and we will look at your place, but I want you to understand that we are not willfully doing this.”
He assured her that as long as the roads in her area are complete, things will return to normalcy and her property is secure along with her property value which will increase once the road is completed.
Another resident from Thomas Street voiced his concern at Kitty being a forgotten part of the city. “I live in Kitty for 46 years. A lot of things be going on and Kitty is the last place anything is ever done and anything to happen for them.”
Ali responded by saying he could not answer for the City Council, but answered on the behalf of his councillors who were present at the gathering. “Everything you are seeing in the city now, the government is financing,” he said, adding, “ this is the consequence of an institution called the City Council [so] I just want you to understand that and it is why I am here myself as president and leading this team doing what we can to bring the improvement.”
The resident then raised the issue of the Burnham Playfield being one of the most unkempt areas and restoring it so that the youth of the community would be able to use it. The president assured him that the government is there to help in fast-tracking that process.
A resident of Pike Street, Kitty, raised the issue of septic tank water being drained into the alleyways. This saw an immediate response from President Ali and he sought an explanation from his team on the ground. The president then spoke with his ministers and requested that the issue be addressed quickly “This is not a healthy situation because if it is drained into the alleyway we have to find a way to help them to fix that.”
He assigned the responsibility to Minister Persaud to have the septic issue resolved before the end of the week.
Another resident raised the issue of drainage on Shell Road. “We got a problem with drainage and also the water line”
The president handed responsibility for that issue over to Minister Parag to ensure that the situation is handled as soon as possible and that all water issues are addressed.
Security issues
Regarding security within the community, both the Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken and Commander Simon McBean were present to hear issues residents faced in their communities and to address them as fast as possible.
One resident raised the natter of burglary and the lack of a proper police outpost. The president in turn, conveyed that the issue of security has been raised many times and as such they have implemented a hub- and-spoke effect for security.
He explained that there is a main police station and then little outposts in various areas within the communities, however due to renovation of the Kitty Police station, there isn’t much of a police presence resulting in a rise in burglaries. Ali however assured the residents that a containerised police outpost will be placed in the community before the week is out.
