Paying for enduring ignorance

THE EDITOR: Looking via the media at all the flooding across our land I cannot decide whether to be more sympathetic at the horrors which our people are enduring or enraged at the total ongoing indifference of our governments – through the years – to this situation.

And this is only August. How many more floods will we have to endure as this Government, like every other one since 1986-87, shows no competence, nor caring, to end these annual floods.

In 1986, when our country was cut in two from flood waters for several days, the PNM government declared that it was blameless, because "flooding is an act of God." Opposition member John Humphrey corrected the minister of works who blamed God (and who should dare to fix or correct an act of God?), stating that the flooding was "an act of damned foolishness."

We the people voted the PNM out of office in December 1986 (to their relief, as their own incompetence and corruption had almost destroyed our country) and Humphrey was named minister of works.

He summoned the construction industry, contractors, equipment owners, engineers and the population (telling the latter "if you know somewhere or something causing flooding, tell us and we will clear it."

And we did. River mouths and rivers were dredged, major drains, including clogged drains under the streets of Port of Spain, landslips, "bamboo stools" and garbage and litter were cleared from all our rivers and drains, and when the rainy season came in 1987, there was no flooding. And no flooding anywhere for the following two years, as flood water drained off as it was meant to, through drains designed years earlier, but clogged from years of slackness, corruption and mismanagement.

Yes, you might have seen a flash flood occasionally, during sudden heavy showers. But the water ran off, as it should, without nonsensical "settling ponds" and the like. We who cannot clear a ditch will clean settling ponds?

Following recent floods in Port of Spain, while the Minister of Works sought to declare he had plans, the Minister of Local Government was claiming that the Government "was working on a comprehensive plan" to reduce flooding. This "plan" has been "worked on" for several years now. When, if ever, might it be completed?

But understand this: there is no workable plan that can be brought that does not involve the dredging of river outfalls and the clearing of rivers, streams and drains.

Help me media, sensible people (we still have these?), engineers and contractors and let us save ourselves from the enduring incompetence of our governments. Or do you want to continue to blame God?

PETER O'CONNOR

Cascade