Under-utilised M&CC workers can be used in hurricane-hit islands’ rebuilding efforts

Dear Editor,
Watching the aftermath and devastating consequences of recent hurricanes in our region, including Hurricane Maria (the fourth named storm since Irma), and being well aware of the significant overstaffing and complete bankruptcy of the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown, I would like to make a proposition that would ‘kill two flightless birds with one giant stone’, as they say here in Guyana.
With thousands of Caribbean people, including a significant number of Guyanese, having no shelter, clothing, food or water; with animals stranded and pets abandoned and left behind; with many buildings flattened, roads ripped up, bridges damaged, and other public infrastructure destroyed, there is an urgent need for engineers, architects, surveyors, draughtsmen, public health workers, plumbers, electricians, masons, carpenters, tinsmiths, labourers, mechanics, welders, painters, crane and excavator operators, landscapers, security officers etc., all of which the Georgetown Municipality has. I would therefore like to suggest that the City Council sends roughly half of its approximately 1,000 workers to the islands to help with the rebuilding of the services and structures needed for people to resume some semblance of ordinary life in places such as Cuba, St Kitts & Nevis, Dominica, St. Maarten, and Barbuda.
In this way, these employees would have meaningful work to do for the next couple of years, as they are currently not provided with either tools or materials to work. And if funding could be obtained from international organisations to pay their salaries whilst they are rebuilding these countries’ infrastructure, it would save the City Council tens of millions of dollars each month — money which could be used to pay off their creditors, including the garbage contractors.
Of course ‘Pat and Roy’, whom we all know love to travel, could travel between these islands ferrying supplies, supervising the workers, and providing nursing care and PR services.

Best regards,
Sambu Jacobus