…on D’Urban Park
D’Urban Park has had a chequered history. Named after the British Governor who consolidated Demerara with Berbice and Essequibo to form British Guiana, it was a horse-track for the upper crust to pretend they were at the races with the Queen at Ascot. It also became a place for those who aspired to join that upper crust to gamble on the ponies, hope to make a killing and live the life of the rich and famous.
Well even though Burnham decided his Co-op Republic didn’t need such a decadent luxury and destroyed it by bisecting it with a roadway to “South”, it appears D’Urban Park was still seen up to this year as the “highway to happiness” by some fellas who desperately crave “upper-crustness”. What else could explain the revelations that were grudgingly wrenched from the Government in general and Infrastructure Minister David Patterson in particular on the going on there starting from January.
Citizens woke up one morning to find bulldozers and other such heavy earth moving equipment clearing the jungle into which D’Urban Park had descended. Eventually, we learnt that – on behalf of the Government, an overseas Guyanese – ex-GDF officer Larry London – the site was going to be transformed into “Durban Park Jubilee Stadium” – a “Tropical Wonderland” in time for Jubilee 50. A stadium to hold 30,000 spectators, all kinds of sports tracks and courts, etc…etc.
We’re now told that actually, Mr London was head of a PRIVATE company – Homestretch Development Inc – that was doing the development. But the goodly Minister Patterson, who’s a surveyor by profession, hadn’t surveyed the operation closely enough (if at all) and doesn’t know how much moneys Mr London had collected and spent (if at all) on the project. The said Mr Patterson had to step into the yawning abyss Mr London had created for the project to be completed by May 26.
Now, is this any way to run a surveying firm, much less Public Infrastructure. We do know over 0 million was spent from the public Treasury to fix the collapsing raw-hardwood stands of the “Stadium”. The Auditor General had to point out that even the raiding of the public Treasury was done illegally. But apart from the bitter taste of residents of Georgetown who’d been salivating at the promised “significantly transformed city in general with incalculable economic, social and health benefits,” there remains the cavalier manner in which this Ggovernment treats the public purse.
Since London used a “private company” for donations, can Patterson say how citizens will ever know who coughed up how much dough?
And how much ended up in private pockets?
…on the case of Green’s pension
We’re told hope beats eternal in the breasts of man. And maybe this explains why some folks hoped the Administration would withdraw the “Hamilton Green Pension Bill 2016” from the National Assembly. No such luck. Your Eyewitness won’t revisit all the reasons why Hamilton Green doesn’t deserve the proposed humongous pension: if you rejected the comments of the Opposition Leader as “biased”, the GHRA’s and TIGI’s should suffice.
What your Eyewitness wants to talk about is this Administration’s position on decision-making: no second guessing tolerated. And that’s what’s so scary. The essence of democracy and democratic governance is “the other side must be heard”. Those who hold different opinions on issues must be given more than a pro-forma hearing.
But this is what happened with the Durban Park motion that was passed without any substantive explanation to the Opposition.
And this will happen to the Hamilton Green Pension.
The party of Generals knows best!
…on “beautification”
Have you noticed we’re in the throes of another “beautification” drive. First there were the Palm Trees on the road along the Anna Regina Market road in Region Two. Now Palm Trees on the East Bank Highway.
It’s coincidental the Palm Tree is the symbol of the PNC?
