Dear Editor,
The hopes of every patriot at home and abroad is to see our capital city, George-town, restored and become the garden city of the Caribbean, the pride of every Guya-nese and the envy of our neighbours. This hope, this dream, is possible only if the municipality of Georgetown is supported as distinct from imperial like control, by a central government. The watchword should be to support, not supplant. Having said that, all of us from the Head-of-State, to the professional, and ordinary citizen must develop a love for beauty, cleanliness, and good order.
What follows are observations I have made at ad nauseum, but I deem it necessary to restate particularly for the benefit of young people, who will be the proud beneficiaries of a completely restored Georgetown.
Allow me to put Georgetown in context; first no sane and sensible developer would have chosen Georgetown to be the Capital of our territory. It is below sea level and must be protected to the north by a solid wall, remembering that centuries ago the area extended over a mile into the Atlantic. The wall had to be built to prevent a further loss of land, and jetties were constructed to tame the ferocity of the Atlantic waves. The area was, for generations, always under water, that is how Water Street got its name, infested with mosquitoes. The Dutch posted soldiers to this area as a form of punishment.
When the area was occupied the main centre of activity, our first Capital, was situated at Borslem Island, opposite Plantation Coverden on the East Bank of Demerara. But because of rivalry among European powers, the Spanish, Dutch, English, and French, by the time they entered to Demerara River Borslem island was exposed and so a brandwagt or outpost was situated somewhere, where, Stabroek Market is, with cannons to spot and hopefully deter enemy ships from proceeding up river. How effective the cannons were, is of course another matter, but being noisy must have been a deterrent.
We believe that this area east of Orinoco, was believed to be the gateway to a golden city, now Guyana. As developments took place on the eastern bank of the Demerara River the Brandwagt and the area called Stabroek earlier, gained importance and when the British took over it was named Georgetown, in honour of the British Monarch King George. Georgetown later became our Capital city. See the book by Hamilton Green “George-town – An Anthology of Georgetown and a piece of the world”.
To maintain the integrity of the city, an area with many disadvantages; it was flat and below sea level, requires regular maintenance of the waterways and roadways. We now have thirteen out-fall channels to drain the city into the Demerara River, with kokers open at low-tide and closed at high-tide, three out-falls at Houston, one each at Meadowbank, Riverview, Ruimveldt, Le Penitence, Sussex Street, Princess Street, Church Street, Lamaha Street, Cowan Street, and Young Street. In addition, to the north of the city there are three pump stations, one at Kitty and two at Liliendaal which takes water out of the city into the Atlantic.
Flooding is one of the difficulties we face in the city, and there must be zero tolerance for those who contribute to littering and the blocking of our waterways. We must know that due to activities to the west of Guyana there is the constant deposit of sling-mud compromising the thirteen out-falls, clearing these must be a year-round constant exercise. And importantly we need barges, or whatever is available to take the sling-mud far out at sea.
I remember in the late 1990s, when I proposed the banning of plastic bags, I was told that merchants had large quantities of plastic bags on the way and this matter should be raised later. I proposed to substitute bio-degradable containers for use when we go shopping. Last week a friend purchased a card of Panadol delivered in a plastic bag, unnecessary and an assault on the environment. Little Antigua has banned plastic bags and people go shopping with cloth-bags, boxes and other containers that are re-usable and friendly to the environment.
With reference to the proposal to begin restoration with Kingston and Tiger Bay, November 18, 2025 Peeping Tom’s column is instructive and timely. As a youngster a popular song was “Beautiful Dreamer”. To restore Georgetown requires management, machinery and money, there is no need for a propaganda blitz. What we need is sincerity and a prudent allocation and use of money. We don’t need another bureaucracy to burden the process, let those who conceived the idea of local government see it in operation, in our Capital.
I note with great fan-fare that a substantial sum was allocated to restore the Le Repentir Cemetery, as we see elsewhere these pompous pronouncements are not preceded by adequate consultation and discussion with concerned citizens. In the case of the cemetery, I am not talking about consulting the dead, but perhaps a meeting of the thousands whose loved ones are buried at Le Repentir would help, perhaps a suggestion to identify a particular day, every week, fortnight, month, or otherwise, titled “dedication day to honour the deceased”, where we encourage family and relatives of the departed to bring their tools, to clean up, put tokens, and other paraphernalia based on the person’s or families beliefs. This must be supported by the council, led by the sexton to have a regular maintenance programme, and go back to the days when the cemetery gates were locked at 6pm every day.
I was appalled when attending a funeral service at the Memorial Gardens I saw a dray-cart galloping past where we were assembled and dumping garbage near the Sussex Street gate. As in every other instance when millions are spent on the rehabilitation of a municipal facility, there need to be provisions and a budget for its regular maintenance and policing. I am not privy to the details of the vast sums to be spent on the cemetery, but unless there is provision as observed above, in a few short months the cemetery will decline again.
I have avoided more details, safe to state, we have a city engineer Mr. Colvern Venture who I believe is competent, professionally driven and not subject to venality. The mayor and city council must be allowed to carry out their mandate. Give the M&C the money, machinery, and safe guards and the city will once more become the pride and envy of all.