Is this an APNU-AFC insult to its supporters?

OCTOBER 17, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

Five years ago, David Patterson, who is now a Cabinet Minister, and Michael Carrington, who is a Member of Parliament, were in the picket line with me and others in front of the Aquatic Centre. Our protest was the demand for the swimming pool to be opened up to the public. In response to our protest action, the Minister of Sports, Frank Anthony, said the reason it’s not opened up to the public was because a life guard was yet to be employed. I recall Dominic Gaskin, now Minister of Business, on an-email thread said that while he agreed the facility should be opened to the public, he wouldn’t advise it until the life guard comes on because it is a deep structure. I live near the Centre. I would make random stops since the protest in 2011 to see if the attendant was employed. He got the job in January 2015. It meant that from the time of our picket, the pool remained outside the reach of the citizens of Guyana. The Aquatic Pool was the third government-owned structure that was restricted in its use. The other two were Colgrain and Castellani. Since 2014, the Government has built a fourth pool. It is referred as the warm up pool and lies next to the Olympic type pool. The PPP Government absolutely refused to open any of these four swimming facilities to the public on a first come first serve basis. Their use was very restricted, The AFC-APNU administration has moved away from the restriction policy of the previous regime but in a way that is insulting. Of the four pools, the large Olympic one is available to any citizen to swim. But only one day in the week; from 10 am to 5 pm. The admission fee is $500. Was it a Cabinet decision or did it come from the Sports Council? The allocation of one day is unacceptable. If opened everyday then, the bulk of users would be in the main the people who voted for the new government. The PPP had its reason for its exclusion of Georgetowners. After all, they don’t vote for the PPP. But what is the reason for the APNU-AFC regime keeping out people who live in Region 4? I haven’t done the research, but is there a country where there are four government-owned swimming pools and not one accommodates the general public? I doubt it. One of those facilities must be made available on a first-come first serve basis to the general public every day of the week. We are talking about four pools, all of which are owned by the people of Guyana. If you restrict the public to one day, it is more than likely that certain categories of citizens cannot be accommodated. The second task that the government must see as an exigency in service to the people is the flow of water in domestic dwellings from ten feet up. For over sixty years now, water flowing through the pipes does not reach beyond ten feet. When I was a boy growing up on Durban Street, Wortmanville, there were constant quarrels between my parents and my siblings who lived above us. This was way back in the sixties. My siblings who lived upstairs would shout down in aggressive tones telling us to turn off the pipes downstairs so they could get bathroom water upstairs. I remember vividly as a small child these quarrels were sometimes very tempestuous. They had to be. Imagine my sister going on a date and there is no bathing water? That happened countless times and quarrels would break out. Most two leveled houses in Georgetown were built up to twenty feet. The second level is from ten feet up. In fact, there are building codes that specify the first level from ceiling to ground cannot be less than ten feet. I can say with maximum absoluteness that prior to 2007 when I moved out of Hadfield Street in Wortmanville, we never got water on the second level. My wife and I stored several buckets of water. My daughter grew up in Wortmanville with buckets of water in the kitchen and bathroom. The rich bought huge black tanks. Over sixty years now, residents in the lower classes, working classes and lower middle classes in Georgetown, not only south Georgetown but the entire capital city, do not get water on the second floor of dwelling houses. And to think that this country is about to celebrate 50 years (50 not 15) of Independence. Look out for my columns that will rubbish those celebrations. Celebrating fifty years of what? Modernity or backwardness?