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Ubraj Narine

City Mayor Ubraj Narine

May 31,2021

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City Mayor Ubraj Narine yesterday dismissed as “nonsensical” and “utter foolish reasoning” allegations leveled against City Hall that it was responsible for flooding in  Georgetown yesterday since the APNU+AFC-dominated council instructed operators to not open the kokers.

“I don’t know what political gimmick this is…and I find it very disgusting and distasteful that they, government ministers, are moving on this way to politicize this issue,” Narine told Stabroek News.

“It is just nonsensical and utter foolish reasoning because they claim our base is Georgetown. Why would we want to flood anyone and even more ever want to flood our base and ourselves?” he questioned.

The mayor was responding to allegations leveled at City Hall by PPP/C ministers  that pump and sluice attendants in the city deliberately did not report for duty yesterday and as such the city was flooded by Saturday night’s heavy rain.

“This morning I received a report, around 3 am, that all the pumps in Georgetown were inoperable because the city council failed to get the operators to put on the pumps and open the sluices. It seems this is a deliberate ploy to get the city flooded because over the past few weeks we have seen high intensity of rainfall and we had minimal flooding in the city,” Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday said on the social media platform Facebook.

“It seems they want to cause problem in the city. The city council has been neglecting the supervision of these infrastructure in the city. So much so that I had to get NDIA (National Drainage and Irrigation Authority)  to go around and monitor these pumps and monitor these sluices. This show the lack of commitment by the city council. It seems a deliberate ploy to flood out the city and thus the city council must take full responsibility for it”, he added.

Adding to the claims of sabotage was the Minister of Public Works and the Minister in the Ministry of Housing.

“APNU operatives continue to sabotage the progress we are making as a country. All the sluice operators fell asleep at the same time? They expect people to believe that? This callous disregard for people’s lives and livelihoods has to stop,” Minister in the Ministry of Housing Susan Rodrigues wrote on her Facebook page.

“It is a fact that we had heavy rainfall overnight but we have had heavy rainfall last week, we have had heavy rainfall before. A check has found that most of the pump attendants were not in place to have the pump running. They slept away. This is not a major flooding this water will run off. The pumps should have been running while the sluice doors were closed and that did not happen. This is neglect by the Mayor and City Council,” Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said.

According to Edghill, yesterday morning he tried calling City Engineer Colvern Venture to join him on a check of the capital to assess the flooding but he had not joined him. Calls were also placed to the Mayor, according to Edghill and “the Mayor hasn’t answered me yet”.

The Mayor said no missed calls were seen from Edghill and everyone knows how easy it is for him to be reached.

Narine said that on learning of the flooding early yesterday morning he went out with a team to assess.

“You cannot assess a pump by driving through. You have to come out of your vehicle to know what is happening. So I would like to rebut the claims. All the pumps are operational when I checked,” he said.

Narine said that if flooding in the city is City Hall’s fault, government should say the reason all the other regions are flooded. “From Region 1 to Region 9 is flooded, why blame Mayor and City Council? That is what I want to know. Deal with the matter. Don’t make it a political gimmick,” the Mayor said.  

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So did the PPP instruct operators not to open kokers during their tenure? What was responsible for the massive flooding in GT during their 23 year tenure? These people are so full of shit it's mind boggling.

55+ years of independent rule and Guyanese, like children, still need the developed and other Caribbean nations to act like parents and "manners" them. Still can't fix the infrastructure. Billions in loans, aile money, and the place is still a flooded shithole. Disgraceful!

I believe that as part of their "climate" plans (whatever that is), there needs to be serious reduction in the use of plastic containers and probably an emphasis on the use of paper and cardboard (recyclable) instead to replace plastic.

Having said that, there is only so much government can do. Growing up in GT people kept their surroundings clean. Stuff was not thrown in the trenches, parapets were weeded regularly, the gutters etc. kept clear. What we have now is a population of imbeciles who weep incessantly while contributing to their own demise. Irresponsible idiots.

FM
@Ramakant-P posted:

All over the country the opposition and their supporters are blaming the government, Central and local, for the flooding. What do you expect when a country is 6ft to 8ft below sea level?

It was 6 foot to 8 foot below sea level in the colonial days. No such flooding. It was 6 foot to 8 foot below sea level when Burnham reigned. No such flooding.

Look, the dutch built the koker system to handle the below sea level crap. We had an infrastructure handed to us which was never maintained. The story of Guyana. However, we do have an abundance of "brilliant idiots" floating around prattling shit with no demonstrable skills at anything.

FM
@Former Member posted:

It was 6 foot to 8 foot below sea level in the colonial days. No such flooding. It was 6 foot to 8 foot below sea level when Burnham reigned. No such flooding.

Look, the dutch built the koker system to handle the below sea level crap. We had an infrastructure handed to us which was never maintained. The story of Guyana. However, we do have an abundance of "brilliant idiots" floating around prattling shit with no demonstrable skills at anything.

Yes! there was lots of flooding that you don't know about. In 1946, 1964, and 2018. when the seal wall broke. When rain falls and flood the land, is an act of god. The PPP fixes the problem when it occurs, but the PNC fixes a problem where isn't one.  Georgetown will always be flooded regardless of which party is in power. I forgot the PNC always rules GT.

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

Yes! there was lots of flooding that you don't know about. In 1946, 1964, and 2018. when the seal wall broke. When rain falls and flood the land, is an act of god. The PPP fixes the problem when it occurs, but the PNC fixes a problem where isn't one.  Georgetown will always be flooded regardless of which party is in power. I forgot the PNC always rules GT.

So the "sea wall broke" in 2018? The coalition was in power then, no? Looks like they fixed it. So what's the problem now with your mattie PPP? Dem cyant fix it?

FM
@Former Member posted:

So the "sea wall broke" in 2018? The coalition was in power then, no? Looks like they fixed it. So what's the problem now with your mattie PPP? Dem cyant fix it?

Can you stop the rain from falling?

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

Can you stop the rain from falling?

Rain been falling forever in Georgetown. Rama, stop with your schupidness. Who took care of the flooding in 2018, hmmmm???

FM
Last edited by Former Member
@Ramakant-P posted:

All over the country the opposition and their supporters are blaming the government, Central and local, for the flooding. What do you expect when a country is 6ft to 8ft below sea level?

Yakusari is under PPP administration. For the past 3 years the pump was broken and it's a diesel engine. Ali recently found 3 pumps sitting in a whorehouse and ordered them to be installed at BBP. This speaks volumes of your ppp incompetence. Rama why don't you move back to Guyana?

Mitwah
@Ramakant-P posted:

Yes! there was lots of flooding that you don't know about. In 1946, 1964, and 2018. when the seal wall broke. When rain falls and flood the land, is an act of god. The PPP fixes the problem when it occurs, but the PNC fixes a problem where isn't one.  Georgetown will always be flooded regardless of which party is in power. I forgot the PNC always rules GT.

Did you forget the great flood in 2006 ?

Django

The Previous Government destroyed the infrastructure and that's why they have so many problems.  You should look at your responses when the PPP/C government tries to fix them. It's almost as if you don't want them to fix the problems. There is always an obstruction from the opposition and GNI (anti-PPP posters) supporting them.

R

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