Chaotic jumble in Georgetown is emblematic of a wider malaise
The “fastest growing economy in the world”: we parrot this phrase with a mixture of pride and awe. Yet, what sort of growth do we envisage? To walk around Georgetown after a year’s absence is to see the clear symptoms of a city in decay; festering piles of garbage punctuate the verges, cars swarm across the cityscape like ants on a carcass and an unrelenting swathe of concrete has been smeared across green spaces and the horizon, like a child wielding a crayon. Whither the wooden architecture, the elegant tree-lined avenues, the grass verges, the garden city? All have virtually disappeared, trampled by a chaotic jumble of vehicles, construction and detritus. Is this what prosperity looks like? Cities evolve, certainly. But like this?
The political gridlock between those in State House and those in the Town Hall has created a power vacuum: market forces have seeped in and taken over. Olympian levels of hubris and incompetence among our officials have added to the malaise. In a paradox worthy of Wilson Harris, the capital city of the co-operative socialist republic is being consumed by capitalism. Unfettered market forces prevail. Where are the garbage collectors and fines for littering and dumping? Where are the parking lots, parking meters, traffic wardens and congestion charges necessary to regulate the traffic? Who is enforcing our building codes? For many years, the City Council has permitted the construction of ever larger buildings with no provision for parking in their plans. This continues, on steroids.
The distinction between residential and commercial zones in the city, always porous, has disappeared entirely. Traditional residential areas like Queenstown and Kingston are pockmarked with newly constructed offices, places of business and government agencies. Build what you will, where you like. Drive as you like. Litter as you please. The paradoxes abound. We tout a Low Carbon Development Strategy to the world. Meanwhile we retrofit a heritage city to create a 1970s dystopia overrun with tarmac and (subsidised) concrete. Both cars and concrete have a role to play in Georgetown’s future: the problem is that they are being allowed to proliferate unchecked with predictable results. Traffic does not flow in Georgetown anymore. It congeals, like pus on a septic wound. Many journeys are quicker on foot.
In another Harrisian plot twist, the solution has been decreed: more roads, more tarmac. What will happen when the new bridge disgorges yet more cars into the heart of the city? Naipaul wrote despairingly of performative ‘symbolic’ gestures like the sporadic clean-up campaigns.
What is sorely lacking is any evidence of actual governance, clearsighted planning and rigorous enforcement of the rules. Why does this matter?
What plays out in Georgetown is emblematic of a wider malaise - as for the capital city, so for the country. As political bickering between the state and the city rambles on, Georgetown is devouring itself. This does not bode well for Guyana. A parting request. Before the paid poodles and keyboard warriors from either end of the political spectrum launch their attacks, perhaps they might consider stepping out of their air-conditioned offices and vehicles to walk the streets. We hear much muttering about the swing vote. Pedestrians are voters too.