By Stabroek News
Copyright stabroeknews
Dear Editor,
It is noteworthy that as much as the PPP and its supporters speak of ONE GUYANA, their flip side shows something quite different. I refer to the Private Sector Commission and Chamber of Commerce and their disingenuous stance as they address the press pledging their support and praises to the government for its new rhetoric about making Georgetown beautiful again. Editor, Georgetown was always right where it is now; 6° N and 58° W on the global map. The Time Zone is still the same and the Climate is still the same. The difference however, is it was controlled by the PNC for decades while in exile (so to speak) and allowed to fall into a rot because of inadequate subventions from the PPP government. A vice grip intended to bear just these fruits. It wasn’t ONE GUYANA. This same party-government that is behaving like Wee Willy Winkle only now to awake to and realize that the City/Capital is filthy and stink. Because they have control of Region 4 and all its quarters and parcels now.
We saw, immediately upon entering office in 2015, the Granger government move to debush and de-debris the landscape of Georgetown, and for 5 years it was breathable. Crime and cocaine runnings were down too. Guyana’s notoriety on the corruption scale dropped. Within the last 5 years Georgetown slumped back to being a garbage bin. Under the PNC-APNU Mayorship and RDC the PPP government refused to allocate adequate funds to manage the City/Capital leaving it to become a national garbage bin. The same Private Sector Commission and Chamber of Commerce existed and operated and said nothing or did anything to keep the city clean. Now they are throttling only because the PPP holds the reigns of Region 4. Clearly it’s about Party and PPP.
No problem if it was the RDC and Mayor’s office to manage the Region and particularly the City/Capital and failed. But what of the businesses which make their profits from operating within?
I am disgusted that all those businesses in Georgetown and Region 4 and specifically the City-Capital could stomach the stench and unsightly panorama – for decades – in their spheres of operation rather than clean up where they operate. It’s called corporate social responsibility. Or doesn’t this concept obtain in Guyana and young Gouveia’s lexicon! I wrote about this disgrace and health risk before under separate cover: twice. https://www. stabroeknews.com/2024/10/31/opinion/letters/stabroek-square-is-filthy/ https://www.stabroeknews.com/2025/08/29/opinion/letters/an-urban-wasteland/
All these businesses, especially eating houses in Georgetown are filthy. Stabroek especially is a belly ache and eye sore. So Young Jerry Gouveia, who heads the Private Sector Commission ought to have inspired his members to clean their parquets and a few yards more so that, even without the Mayor’s grand efforts or failure, their sphere of operation and George-town by extension would have remained beautiful with clean air all of those 23 plus 5 years. But no! Party trumps Country or City/Capitol. ONE GUYANA. Yeah!
Five years and the garbage bin remained as is under Ali. Even with the ONE GUYANA rhetoric. I personally do not do business or eat from firms that have filthy parquets. There are eating houses in the City and particularly Stabroek that are encroached on by garbage and bushes and the popular and ever present dead dog, yet they operate. It is a corporate disgrace. But then again as I began, it is all about party power and to hell with the country, really.
