Latest update February 8th, 2025 6:23 PM
Oct 03, 2013 News
– “Paying people who do very little or nothing”
On the matter of the present state of the Capital City, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has taken to questioning whether the millions being received as annual revenue to the Mayor and City Council (M & CC) are being used efficiently.
General Secretary Clement Rohee pointed out at a recent press conference that “the piles of garbage at every street corner, in city drains and other water ways” have become a matter of primary concern.
The Party highlighted that the City Council, the body responsible for the solid waste management in the city, ran by Mayor Hamilton Greene, receives over $3M on an annual basis in revenue.
Minister within the Local Government Ministry, Norman Whittaker noted that of the total amount of revenue received by the Council, almost sixty per cent goes to the payment of employment expenses.
The Minister opined that the situation is “regrettable” since the monies go to employees, who in some instances, do very little or nothing.
“When you look out there, you don’t see workers cleaning the drains or sweeping the pavement. You hardly see their presence,” Whittaker stressed.
In reiterating this point Rohee stated that as a result of the Council claiming to be weighed down by a “huge” wage bill, certain infrastructural works have suffered, resulting in the Government having to intervene.
“One can only imagine what the state of our city would have been had Government not consistently sought to invest hundreds of millions of dollars every year,” he said.
Regarding the Mayor’s claims that Government refuses to assist the Council, Rohee said that the track record of the Government has been very clear in that area. “We have intervened, not just by talk, but with cash in hand to pay firms to assist in cleaning up the city. We have intervened in the past and we most likely will continue to intervene,” he said.
He identified that due to the City Council’s incapability to fulfill its obligations, Government was forced to assume responsibility for maintaining roads, drainage and other rehabilitation works in the city; including payment to garbage contractors.
The General Secretary made specific reference to Le Repentir, Georgetown cemetery that was cleared through the Government expending millions to accomplish the task. He said that under the present Mayor, however, the situation is “back to square one” with the cemetery being overtaken by heavy overgrowth.
While maintaining that the prime responsibility to upkeep the environs of the city lie with the M & CC, Rohee said that for the indiscriminate practice to change, citizens have to take the upper hand. The General Secretary drew attention to the cases where garbage bins are being vandalized and to instances where waste is thrown next to the bins instead of in it.
He reminded that similar practices of indiscriminate dumping of garbage had contributed to the devastating floods in recent times and their hazardous after effects, as water ways were clogged.
It was therefore advocated that programmes focused on garbage disposal habits be publicised so as to “encourage others to do the right thing and identify areas where Government and other stakeholders can do more.”
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