Georgetown – malfeasance in public office

Heavy rainfall is not the fault of the Mayor of Georgetown, but idle pumps and closed sluices are totally his fault. Heavy rainfall would almost always lead to a certain amount of flooding in Georgetown. That several of the seven Georgetown pumps and the five sluices are idle and closed as the city floods is unconscionable, and the Mayor cannot excuse himself. In the present flooding situation in Georgetown, unconscionable underutilisation of city pumps and sluices is criminal.

Given the damages, the inconvenience and discomfort of floods, and the health risks, the Mayor and City Council are guilty of malfeasance in public office for not ensuring pumps and sluices are operational at 100% capacity. That those sluices remain closed and pumps are idle is more than incompetence; it is egregious mismanagement, deliberate sabotaging of the city’s capacity to drain water out of the city.

The drainage system in Georgetown is the total responsibility of the Mayor and City Council. No bones about it, the Mayor and City Council’s management of drainage in Georgetown has been contaminated with a hefty portion of political strategising as part of an overall political calculation. Those in charge of the city calculate that people would blame the President and his Government for the flooding woes of Georgetown. But the management of the city’s drainage is one of the many responsibilities of the Mayor and City Council.

They collect taxes, they are supposed to ensure the city is kept clean, that the city’s streets are in good condition, that the drainage system is working optimally, to prevent flooding. As part of managing the drainage system, the Mayor and City Council must keep drains and canals clean. They must also ensure that pumps are always in working condition, and, during heavy rainfall events, these pumps are put into operation, and sluice doors are operated (opened and closed) as necessary.

Last Saturday, in response to the flooding in Georgetown, Ministers Juan Edghill and Zulfikar Mustapha bemoaned the fact that city pumps were idle and city sluices were closed when they should have been opened. The Ministers claimed that underutilisation of the pumps and sluices was politically motivated.

55 years and these governments cant contain floods in the capital city