McKnight garbage situation escalates…residents stage protest

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts- THE garbage collection issues in the McKnight area escalated this past weekend when according to area residents, the garbage collectors were excluding certain individuals from normal pick-up.

Friday evening (Oct. 10) on Shaw Avenue, those alleging that their garbage was purposely being left behind staged a mini protest.

Speaking to SKNVibes on the condition of anonymity, one witness to Friday’s service dispute said the incident began when residents living in the vicinity of Shaw Avenue did not receive their regularly scheduled service from the Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC).

“People saw the trucks passing by in the neighbourhood, but noticed that their trash wasn’t being picked so of course they got mad about it,” the source informed.

Upon realizing that their garbage was not going to be removed, residents began blocking the street with barrels and bags of trash, essentially choking the flow of traffic and forcing the SWMC to address the problem.

Eventually, after much prodding from the residents of the area, the SWMC sanitation workers relented, returning to remove the trash from the street.

Though the witness was hesitant to reveal what might have caused the breakdown in service, he eventually stated that the sanitation workers “were ordered to not pick up the trash by [Wilmon] McCall”, though he could not say why such an order was passed down from the Operations Supervisor of the SWMC.

SKNVibes contacted McCall who said he was not aware of the McKnight incident taking place.
“My workers never said anything about it to me. This is the first I’m hearing of it,” he said.

Saturday (Oct. 11) proved to be a much better day for West Basseterre, as the latest company putting their bid in to provide waste removal services for the capital, St. Kitts-Nevis Waste Disposal (SKNWD), decided to provide their services free of cost to McKnight and St. Johnson’s Village.

According to a representative speaking on behalf of the SKNWD, the 12-4 p.m. service was largely provided because “we believe that everyone should do whatever is necessary to help the country”.

When asked how the sample run was received by the public, the representative said "the people of West Basseterre seemed to be very appreciative of the gesture".

"We are still in the negotiation process with the government in terms of the awarding of garbage collection contracts and hope that the discussions will have a positive outcome for SKNWD," she said.

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