City's services grinding to halt in money crunch -Green tells press conference By Kester Morris Stabroek News October 1, 1999 The capital city will be faced with a potential health crisis following an announcement by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) that it will no longer be able to provide many of its basic services including garbage collection, due to a scarcity of revenue. The announcement, made by Mayor Hamilton Green at a City Hall press conference yesterday, came four days after three of the five garbage disposal contractors retained by the M&CC withdrew their services over a reported $15 million owed to them. Mayor Green acknowledged that the city would now face a serious health threat if the M&CC could not get the resources to collect garbage. Those "resources", he said, could only come from the collection of revenue, which has been adversely affected by defaulting ratepayers. Among those ratepayers is Central Government, which is said to owe the Council over $500 million. The Mayor told reporters that the current position of the Council was that "unless we have the financial resources, we are left with no other alternative but to curtail, if not completely bring an end to, garbage collection activities in the city". Summing up the situation, the Mayor noted that "We are now in the unfortunate position where Peter will pay for Paul". He reported that the Ministry of Health had been made aware of the seriousness of the situation at a meeting earlier this week and had already taken steps to identify a professional who would put up a programme to deal with the crisis. The unnamed professional will then report to both the Mayor and the Minister of Health and, based on an undertaking given by the minister, will be able to identify various sources of funding to address the public health problem. In identifying the specific health threats, Mayor Green disclosed that, outside of the known threat posed by mosquitoes and flies, there had already been instances of diarrhoeal disease among children and adults. While, he acknowledged that safety and public health could not be confined to the city, Green noted that the city would be a focal point for the health related difficulties, given its attendant problems such as flooding, squatting and inadequate drainage. He promised that work had already started to identify what needed to be done in relation to this health problem. Despite these assurances, fellow Good and Green Guyana Councillor Patricia Chase-Green rose to express her fears over what would happen to the Georgetown Hospital were there to be an outbreak of gastro-enteritis or the like. Chase-Green, herself a nurse, questioned whether the Ministry of Health was aware of the cost of treating gastro-enteritis in particular and noted that Government as a whole should recognise the danger and find some way to repay its debt. Similar sentiments were expressed by People's National Congress councillor Ranwell Jordan, who noted that if the Government was serious about the health of the city it would ensure that, at the least, its debts were paid. He opined that, failing this, the Council should find a way outside of downing tools to demonstrate that it was serious about the welfare of the citizens. Questioned by reporters as to whether the M&CC had taken any special steps to ensure or speed up revenue collection, the Mayor opined that it had already done all things possible to ensure collection. When asked what was being done to force the Government specifically to pay its outstanding rates, Mayor Green replied that he was above employing coercive measures. He noted that it was his hope that the press conference could serve to communicate to everyone the severity of the situation, which would hopefully spur them to action. He did report that it was his understanding that Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, in his capacities as President and Finance Minister, had directed that the outstanding rates be paid by Government Ministries. However the Mayor said that to his knowledge, those monies had yet to be paid into the Council's coffers. Local Government Minister, Clinton Collymore could not be reached for comment on this matter yesterday. Green had already reported to the press conference that the council had expended over $200 million plus a substantial sum rehabilitating the Stabroek market in addition to routine operations this year. As a result, most of the city will be affected by the impending cessation of service although Green noted that efforts will be made to collect garbage in some areas. However, the mayor warned that money would only be given to priority areas as funds flowed in. Areas that have already suffered as a result of the withdrawal of services by the contractors include Charlestown, Albouystown, Werk-en-Rust, Wortmanville, Bel Air Park, Lamaha Gardens, Newtown and the rest of Lacytown. Rubbish has also piled up in East and West Ruimveldt, North and East La Penitence and Castello Housing Scheme. Also affected have been Prashad Nagar, Bel Air Village, Liliendaal, Turkeyen, Cummings Lodge, Meadow Brook, Turns Drive, Tucville, East La Penitence, Jacksonville, the water front schemes, South Ruimveldt and from Alexander Village all the way to Agricola on the East Bank. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples