With the pending arrival of CCTV in Basseterre and other environs, the Solid Management Corporation (SWMC) is hoping that it can garner hard evidence to prosecute persons who break litter and waste disposal laws in the country. SWMC Operations officer Mr. Valentine Heyliger has expressed optimism that this will provide an opportunity to discover who have been dumping garbage indiscriminately in and around Basseterre. He is calling for a change in culture by the people in St. Kitts towards cleanliness and waste disposal.

“With the coming on stream of the CCTV, a lot of people are going to be in trouble because we are going to tap into police (system) to find who doing a lot of the illegal dumping on the roads,” he said. “They not only do it in the cane fields and the ghuts; they doing it right in the heart of town. Persons come, they put down a bag in a place it’s not supposed to.” He also said that this evidence will help in prosecuting perpetrators.

However, Mr. Heyliger is calling for stiffer penalties for perpetrators and gave an example to support his point. “Somebody would dump something, say over Half Moon Bay Heights. You give them a removal order and a ticket but the ticket is only for $500. If they comply within the stipulated time, you have to withdraw the ticket. What we want to see happen is that once you break the law, you pay the fine and remove the stuff. Not just remove the stuff and you don’t pay the fine,” he argued. “The court supposed to be able to penalize you further for the offense that you committed; maybe charge you $5000 as a deterrent. There should be a maximum penalty as well as if somebody keeps doing it there should be a jail term as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, with the advent of the mosquito-bourne Zika virus, Mr. Heyliger has issued a clarion call for persons to take heed not to dispose garbage indiscriminately and create an environment for mosquito breeding. “You realize it’s not just a health issue, it’s an economic issue. Internationally they’re telling their citizens not to travel to these areas,” Heyliger said, noting that Zika is impacting Caribbean tourism.