The gardens and the pump
Editorial
Stabroek News
April 26, 2004
Two events in recent days succinctly defined the funding difficulties besetting the city - and local government - and the dire need for decision makers and constitutionalists to work out an equitable method for fiscal transfers from the centre to the regions.
In a laudable act of corporate beneficence, the National Bank of Industry of Commerce (NBIC) has come forward with $24M to help revivify the neglected Promenade Gardens which lie opposite its imposing corporate headquarters. The outlay will not be the end-all of the problems facing the gardens laid out in 1853 but it will help to bring a fresh bloom to its appearance, make it a centre of exquisite horticultural beauty and hopefully restore it to a livelier role in the social life of Georgetown.
Rodway's The Story of Georgetown described one particular spot in the gardens with a rockery "with trees above, on which were perched several species of epiphytal orchids, (which) was alone worth a visit" and "near the fern house is a camphor tree, and a little to the left a fine specimen of Barringtonia speciosa, the beautiful waxy petals of which are as handsome as the pyramidal fruits are curious". The exact specimens will be not reinstated in their former positions but the mere fact that we are even discussing this speaks to the progress that has been made and is expected.
The point, however, is that every self-respecting capital city the world over is expected to be in a position to maintain, if not expand, its main attractions such as gardens, museums, monuments, parks etc. Even making allowance for the inept and often-times comedic management of the city by the 1994 city council and its officers, it is clear that Georgetown does not have the wherewithal to fund the upkeep and nourishing of its gems and aside from determinedly collecting rates and taxes it is left to go cap in hand to the government or rely on the benevolence of corporate Guyana.
Such is the financial tightness and disarray that grips the city that even though the national budget was presented this year at the last possible moment Georgetown is still trying to hammer out its own budget.
Not only the gardens and historic sites are left neglected as a result of the financial plight of the city. Key infrastructure critical to the drainage of Greater Georgetown is now also at risk. Only one of the two pumps at Liliendaal that drain areas such as Bel Air, Cummings Lodge, Sophia and Blygezeight is functioning at the moment and while the city has shrunk from saying much on it, Stabroek News has been told that it does not have the money to repair it and has to seek funds from elsewhere. This particular pump malfunctioned since December last year just before the start of the rainy season and resulted in the exacerbation of flooding on the East Coast. Four months later it remains in the same condition, the council has no idea where the money for the repairs will come from and the main rainy season is now upon us. Can flooding be far away?
This situation highlights three issues. First, even though the city is the main centre of commerce, the seat of government and its offices and lays claim to the cultural heartbeat of the country, it benefits from little of the associated revenues. Second, that a main irrigation pump can go unrepaired for months because it is the responsibility of the city betrays the poor quality of dialogue and interaction between the city and the government/local government ministry. The drainage and irrigation board should have already been involved in the matter and a decision taken to facilitate repairs. Third, should drainage functions be retained by the city or should a national institution be tasked with this?
So the fortunes of the Promenade Gardens and the Liliendaal pump define parts of the problem that the government and society must answer about how funding should be apportioned between central government and the regions. One can construct a formula where each city or local government organ gets subventions which relate to the size of their populations and their needs or these entities should be given full authority to raise funds they require in addition to the rates and taxes they should be collecting.
Fiscal transfers from the centre to the regions remain a touchy issue because it is a throwback from the decades of politics which mandate that the centre controls everything and godfather-like determines who gets what. A change is needed where those elected to office are given the opportunity to run the affairs of their constituencies and to be fully accountable for their actions.
In the interim we can only hope for two things: that some magnanimous corporate citizen or group does for the Botanic Gardens what NBIC is doing for the Promenade Gardens and that the city finds a financier for the Liliendaal pump soon.