Guyana being labelled as the dirtiest nation in the Caribbean

Dear Editor,
Please allow me the opportunity to say what’s on my mind. Most of my letters to you have to do with wrongdoings, or things I want to see happen to better my country. This year, I took my vacation in Antigua and Barbuda. As usual, getting together and having conversation on what’s happening in Guyana and comparing same to Antigua could hardly escape my many encounters.
On one such encounter, I was told in the most embarrassing and shameful way that Guyana is the dirtiest nation in the Caribbean. These remarks were made by both Antiguans and Guyanese emigrants. They lamented extensively of seeing garbage almost everywhere during their last visit to Guyana. They spoke of Guyanese eating and throwing food boxes out moving vehicles and on anywhere in the streets. This was my most humiliating moment I could ever remember. Three weeks ago, I met two Canadian visitors. I extended my hospitality by offering them a drive to Parika Stelling EBE. Once again, I was told that Guyana is the dirtiest country they have visited, and they will never return.
On the way to Parika, they took the opportunity to point out plastic bottles and bags of garbage thrown on the parapet along the way. In the vicinity of Tuschen EBE, there was a man with a wheelbarrow full of garbage, which he emptied it into the trench. As we moved on further into Greenwich Park/Ruby, out came a rice tractor, spilling huge chunks of mud on the road. Yes! This is the Guyana we live in today. Where I lived in Sea-view, Cornelia Ida WCD, only 4 persons have garbage bins from Puran’s Waste Disposal. The rest of people throw their garbage at the seawall and in a nearby trench. It is disgusting to see little children defecating behind the seawall, especially in the mornings.
There is a group of fishermen who would bring in and clean their fishes, and would leave the unwanted to rot and stink right on the seawall.
The once lovely beach we had is now covered with old fridges, stoves, cloth, and the whole “works”. Editor, I have visited several Caribbean countries, and I must confess that indeed Guyana is the dirtiest of them all. This shame and disgrace must be squarely laid at feet of our Government. While in Antigua and Barbuda, it was brought to my attention that the Antiguan Government upgraded its environmental legislation, increased its plainclothes patrols, and increased penalties. I wrote on this subject last year. I am writing here this year.
I will continue to highlight this national disgrace as long your paper affords me the opportunity. Once this situation remains unchanged, I will write to international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, Norway, and the ABC countries, just to name a few. I will call on all right thinking Guyanese who have a sense of national pride to join me and to implore our Government to do whatever it takes reverse this stigma of being the dirtiest nation in the Caribbean.

Yours sincerely,
C Woolford