M&CC seeking to impose “Littering bylaws” to address garbage situation

DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) are proposing to introduce “littering bylaws” to address the city’s garbage challenge. The recommendation for the laws is as a direct result of citizens carelessly disposing garbage in and around the capital city.

This was disclosed by Town Clerk Royston King during a press conference on Tuesday. The bylaws will introduce a ticketing system which will impose immediate fines on litterbugs. King said that the ticketing system will allow people to be properly sanctioned when caught in the act of littering.

He added that it will also “give the council the opportunity to garner revenue to do the work… to police the littering bylaws, at the moment we do not get that, if we pass these bylaws, we will definitely get that revenue coming into the council.”

Under the proposed bylaws, fines will range from $25,000 but not exceed $100,000. For each day the fine remains unpaid, $10,000 will be added to that amount. Failure to pay within 72 hours is seen as an offense and perpetrators are liable to imprisonment for no less than 24 hours but not exceeding 120 hours.

King stated that the revenues collected from bylaws will help the M&CC to acquire the necessary resources to properly attend to the needs of the city. The bylaws will be sent to the Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan for approval and is expected to be in full effect by the end of October.

The Town Clerk explained that they are “putting in place stiffer fines for people who are hurting the environment by being undisciplined in the way they dispose of their waste. We could not manage this city in the way that it is currently going, we could not be cleaning and have people just littering in…abundance. You go any part of the city and you will see what I am talking about and I believe that because we do not have these penalties and fines in place people find an incentive to do what they are doing.”

Additionally, the M&CC will be implementing a programme entitled ‘Name and Shame’ that will publicly display the faces of litterbugs. The Town Clerk said that this is another system geared at deterring persons from defacing the city.

 

By: Isaiah Braithwaite