AGRICULTURE MINISTER ZULFIKAR MUSTAPHA SEE HANDS OF MISCHIEF
behind overnight flooding of several Wards of Georgetown a heavily-populated opposition-
controlled municipality.
In a televised statement Minister Mustapha faulted the Georgetown Municipality for failing to
activate pumps and sluices which help drain the city during the current heavy showers which
inundated the capital overnight.
“It seems that this is a deliberate ploy to get the city flooded because over the last two weeks we
have seen high intensity rainfall and we had minimal flooding in the city. It seems that they want
to cause problems in the city and we know for a fact that the city council have been neglecting
the supervision of these infrastructure within the city,” Mustapha said in the televised statement.
Torrential downpours have constantly lashed the capital in the last two weeks without any
flooding, and Mustapha couldn’t help see hands of mischief masterminding the effects of the
current swamp affecting residents and their property.
“I had to get NDIA (National Drainage and Irrigation Authority) to go around and monitor these
pumps and monitor these sluices. As it stands right now members of Cabinet are around
Georgetown to see where these pumps are operable and where these sluices are working. I am
very concerned and I am very disappointed as this shows the lack of commitment by the City
Council,” Minister Mustapha said in his statement.
Upper Demerara/Mahaica (Region Four) is the most populated of the 10 Administrative Regions
comprising 216,000 Km 2 Guyana and is controlled by the major opposition A Partnership for
National Unity, Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition.
It is the seat of government and commerce, and Mustapha believes the APNU+AFC-controlled
municipality intentionally deactivated anti-flooding infrastructure to embarrass the nine-month
old Irfaan All administration.
“I want to reiterate my point that this is a deliberate ploy by the City Council to flood out the city
and the City Council must take full responsibility for it. Many areas in Georgetown are under
water and this is as a direct result of the non-operation of these infrastructures, the pumps and the
sluices,” the Minister said.
“I am hoping that we can get a fast drainage of the City, because we are now fully monitoring the
situation in Georgetown,” he said.
“Hopefully, within the next few hours, we can get the city drained,” Mustapha forecasted.
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