Whose resignation can we expect after the flood on Wednesday?

Whose resignation can we expect after the flood on Wednesday?
BY Staff
Published: December 12, 2008 in Letters

Dear Editor,

In any halfway decent country where the concept of accountability is understood the residents would have been greeted this Friday morning with announcements of the resignations of ministers who have any connection with the areas of drainage, flood control and sanitation.

Since the flood of 2005 we have been treated to announcements about how many billions of dollars have been spent to improve drainage on the coast. I’m not sure how many Georgetown and ECD residents could be impressed by these announcements after the flood waters rose and kept rising yesterday. As a resident of the areas affected over and over again I really am not interested in how much the government spent; I want to see the results from this expenditure. I do not want to hear that a Minister is keeping an eye on the situation; I, along with all the other flood sufferers can do that – indeed, yesterday we had to keep both eyes on the rising water. I certainly have no interest in the finger-pointing that continues on and on and on between the central government and the city council. The city council has no power and no resources. The related questions for me are, what does ministerial responsibility mean, and how is this responsibility effected?

Our government has quite correctly joined the platform of nations that seek to address the effects of climate change. Unless Guyana is only concerned with sloganeering and international grandstanding, we have to make some changes here at home. It is not serious to say that our defences can cope with 2 inches of rain but yesterday we had 4 inches of rain. This cannot comfort anyone who suffered damage yesterday.

I ask again, who is responsible? Whose resignation are we to expect? What is the plan beyond Minister Benn “keeping an eye” on the water?

Yours faithfully,
Karen de Souza
Red Thread