Guyanese, city council must do more to keep the environment clean

Guyanese and the Georgetown City Council must work together to keep the city and its environment clean and tidy.

This was the position of the Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill on Thursday morning as he joined hundreds of people to cleanup areas of the capital city. The exercise occurred in different parts of the country as part of the activities planned by the National Enhancement Committee.  

Minister Edghill said he was disappointed at the pile-up of garbage in the vicinity of the Georgetown Public Hospital, particularly on New Market Street, Georgetown.

He blames the vendors and business persons who operate in the area. The minister lamented the lack of action by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council.

“We are at the main tertiary level hospital of our country, the Georgetown Public Hospital, right across from the hospital. We have truckloads of garbage on private land. We have had cause to fence this property before after we would have cleaned it, but coming back here today the fence is broken down and the garbage is more than what has been there before,” Minister Edghill stated.

He noted that the GPHC has its own arrangement for waste and garbage disposal but the waste disposed at the location is from the businesses and vendors around the area.

Minister Edghill said the wanton disposal of garbage is a lawless act and the city council could also take action against the property owner.

“I would use this occasion to appeal to all Guyanese. We have to do better…we just have to do better. We cannot keep doing this over and over again and vendors and those who ply their trade in this area, dispose of your garbage properly. And it is clear, the city council has jurisdiction over these matters. You mean the city council at no time didn’t see anyone dumping garbage here to serve notices, to enquire, to put a constabulary rank here to deal with this matter?” Minister Edghill lamented as truckloads of garbage were being removed from the location.

The minister said, that across the country, the ministry has been removing derelict vehicles, tyres and garbage with the cooperation of persons.

He urged Guyanese to act more responsibly and noted that the law needs to be enforced. Minister Edghill said the persons found dumping garbage need to be charged.

Several volunteers shared their thoughts about the cleanup exercise including Vice Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Captain Gerry Gouveia.

“As we develop Guyana as we boost our economy, the investment climate is growing we have foreigners coming here. We are doing so much to build the economy and the country we have to make sure that we keep our cities clean and our country clean,” he stated.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Thomas is urged people to keep their environs clean.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage people to stop littering we have found a number of things this morning, KFC boxes a lot of plastic bottles, and energy drink tins, but people need to stop littering so that the place and the environment will be much cleaner,” he stated.