Jungle city
Editorial
WE MAKE no apologies for returning to a topic we recently raised - the awful condition of the capital city of this country. We acknowledge that there have been major improvements in some aspects of Georgetown in recent years, including major overhauling of key streets. Street names have gone up in some sections and one visitor last week commented favourably on the overall general improvement since a visit in the early 1980s. But something seems to have gone badly wrong in some areas. The photos on our front page today tell a graphic story and there seems to be no acceptable excuse for such a situation. Many citizens who pay taxes to the City Council, regularly pay the eager bands of grass-cutters in the city to keep the parapets in front of their yards clear of grass or bush, or simply do it themselves. If they did not do that, their yards and homes would be in danger of being taken over by grass and bush. Why is Georgetown becoming a jungle city with grass and creepers almost everywhere, blocking street corners and taking over parapets? Is the City Council converting it in a huge wild life sanctuary? We wonder, because a huge alligator or crocodile was earlier this month seen frolicking quite freely and unconcerned in the main canal outside the Foreign Ministry on South Road. Maybe the creature was practising for another episode in the `Crocodile Dundee' movie series the city fathers have planned without letting citizens in on the secret. And the other characters may be lurking around somewhere in Georgetown until the time is ripe. This jungle makeover the city is undergoing is all the more baffling because clearing the grass and bushes cannot be that expensive an undertaking, like say putting up new structures for street vendors or repairing the Stabroek Market. Some persons somewhere just do not seem to care that the capital city is getting shabbier and seedier and going to grass. And the growing consensus is that Georgetown must be counted among the worst-kept cities in this part of the world. It badly needs a `grass lift' if only to lift the spirits of its citizens and visitors. We are sure that if, for a start, the City Council appeals to the private grass-cutters to lend some helping hands, most would willingly oblige to help clear the shame. This city is in danger of becoming a national disgrace and the Central Government has to take a hand in this state of affairs.
|