[www.inewsguyana.com] – Junior Social Protection Minister, Simona Broomes is continuing to sweep labour injustices into the light with her latest being the horrendous working conditions at the Bartica Police Station and the Bartica Power and Light station.
According to a GINA report, the Minister, along with a team of Labour Occupational Health and Safety Officers, visited and inspected the work space at the Bartica Police Station and the Bartica Power and Light.
At the police station, the officers complained of having to sleep on very uncomfortable beds, no washroom facilities and a kitchen area that is not only unhealthy but lacks a refrigerator and a stove.
One officer said that he has to purchase his own groceries and even had to purchase a stove to cook his meal. The officers had to join and buy paint to give the barrack room a face lift. The staff also has to purchase their own drinking water, because the water from the storage tank is unhealthy to drink as it is located nearby a leaking septic tank.
“I would never believe that the Bartica Police Station doesn’t have a washroom area, and to even see the condition of the kitchen. You don’t even have a wash room area to say that this is the laundry area or so, not even a stove in the kitchen. This government is not the past, so we are going to do things differently,” Minister Broomes told the officers.
She said that in order for the administration to meet that mandate of ensuring that all Guyanese have a good life, “we the ministers have to go around ourselves and get the surveying done.”
“I am embarrassed, had I been a policeman or woman to live in this condition, I don’t think I would have endured it. For the first time I have to take my hats off to police,” Minister Broomes stressed.
She added that “… it is time that the police got some privacy and do away with the word ‘barrack room’ and move to living quarters to make police officers more comfortable.”
Meanwhile, at the Bartica Power and Light, the workers, who work for eight to twelve hours, complained of working under very hazardous conditions with no proper safety gear.
The lunch room can be described as abysmal, as it is unfriendly and not conducive for staff to comfortably have their meals.
Situated in an environment that is primarily surrounded by oil and batteries, the lunch room resembles that of an unkempt place, with no chairs in sight. The lavatory area is in need of sanitation.
Minister Broomes noted that the building itself is in a deplorable state and that “this is a mockery…this is total neglect, and I condemn this. The previous administration had no interest in what is taking place, they did not care. The change that we are talking about is here.”
Hats off to Ms. Broomes! She needs to address the living conditions of teachers who live in hostels while working in remote areas – overgrown bushes in yards/ compounds! No basic necessities – teacher sleeping & sitting on the floor just to name a few!
I am disgusted to see what Guyanese in the work place has been going through., while the PPP government live in the lap of wealth. Ms Broomes has exposed how sad and unfair the people were treated. No wonder the people in the work place did not care, since they were not properly taken care of. God knows it was time the government had to go , in order to bring all good things to Guyanese. I continue to pray for the President and his cabinet to clean up and expose how terrible the country was run.