There are no “ands, ifs and buts”, Georgetown is the dirtiest city in the Caribbean, and is one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Georgetown is a disgrace to all Guyanese. Our once “Garden City” of the Caribbean and the Commonwealth is today the “Garbage City” of the Caribbean and the Commonwealth. Citizens take absolutely no pleasure in admitting that Georgetown is a dump.
President Irfaan Ali, his cabinet, and countless volunteers have tried to clean up the city; but, almost instantly, the cleaned areas return to their previous garbage status. President Ali’s tireless efforts are not the first time leaders have tried to clean up Georgetown. Soon after the PNC-led APNU/AFC Government took over the government in 2015, they undertook a clean-up campaign, which was short-lived, because it soon occurred to them that it is a waste of time. Georgetown has a government that is an albatross for Guyanese.
Long before independence, Georgetown’s government had been in the hands of the same political party – the PNC. While some Guyanese want to hold Central Government responsible, unless the Georgetown government – the Mayor and City Council – takes responsibility for the cleanliness of the capital city, it will continue to be the Caribbean and the Commonwealth’s “Garbage City”. The PNC Mayor and the PNC-led City Council have shown no interest in cleaning up Georgetown. Like pigs wallowing in the mud, the Mayor and the PNC-majority councillors find ecstasy in being swaddled by the mountains of rodent-infested, maggot-filled garbage that adorns the city everywhere.
Unless there is a Central Government takeover, no change is coming to Georgetown anytime soon. The alternative is for the people to vote the PNC-led City government out. That will happen not long from now. But Georgetown and Guyana cannot wait for that to happen.
Action must be taken now. The reluctance of Central Government to act against the City government is dictated by the reality that the Central Government will be accused of taking away the fundamental rights of citizens who voted for this mess of a City government.
The familiar excuse is that Central Government starves the Mayor and the City Council of revenues. Yet the same City Council, last week, introduced a despicable policy to grant political parties a 75% deduction on their taxes. The policy hugely benefits one political party – the same one which is in charge of the Georgetown government. The PNC owes hundreds of millions of dollars in back-taxes. Maybe there are other political parties, such as the AFC, that might owe taxes. In fact, the story is that the AFC formally requested a reduction in taxes.
The PPP, Guyana’s largest political party by far, the political party that runs Central Government, has paid its taxes and is up-to-date with its payment. We know that because General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo told us so, and produced the payment receipts. There is no hiding in fancy words. It reminds us of the 2020 elections when, within 48 hours, the PPP published its copies of the GECOM-certified SOPs.
But just like the SOPs from the March 2020 elections, the PNC is unable to publish its receipts. After some clumsy responses to Bharrat Jagdeo’s statement that the PNC owed $6.7B in back taxes, the PNC’s position now is that they do not owe any tax to the City Council. The story is that when they say they owe no taxes, it might be because they might have placed Congress Place and other PNC-owned properties in a private entity. They refuse to admit this.
Political parties must demonstrate to people they can be trusted. It is a simple matter: are taxes owed for Congress Place, regardless of under whose name Congress Place is registered with the City Council? As long as the PNC is playing games with the answer, just as they have been playing games with the March 2020 elections’ SOPs, decent people will not trust them. Just as they promised the students that UG will be free, and then they increased the fees; just as they promised no sugar estate will be closed, and then proceeded on a journey to close down sugar totally by closing four sugar estates; just as they promised workers 20% increases in wages and salaries, and then froze the sugar workers’ wages and gave marginal increases to public servants; just as they hid the US$18M Exxon bonus, the same untrustworthiness is the PNC’s albatross.
The same frankness as displayed by the PPP is required of all political parties. Not only must the PNC come clean, the AFC must tell the nation whether they have paid their taxes. With Elections 2025 staring at us, political parties must pass this test of transparency.
The Mayor and City Council cannot shamelessly argue that Central Government is starving the City of resources, but can afford to give 75% tax deduction on major properties owned by political parties. Can we make sense of all of this?
In 2021, the Mayor and City Council spoke about new streams of revenue. What did they mean by new streams? It was increases in market stall rentals, fees for pile-driving operations, wash-bay facilities, occupational certificates, and food handlers’ certificates. Yet this same bunch wants to reduce political parties’ taxes by 75%. In 2021, the then-Mayor revisited an old PNC strategy – re-examination of the Valuation for Rating Purposes Act. They wanted to increase property taxes. The bottom line is that the policy of 75% reduction for properties owned by political parties is designed for one political party, and that is the PNC, with the AFC as collateral beneficiary. When all is said and done, whom do we trust? The time to act as Guyana is being transformed is now. The City needs a new government.
