I live in a large city. A metropolis. The city receives more than its fair share of rain every year. Yet, in the summer there is an acute water shortage. During the rains, most of the roads resemble streams, transforming our city into a veritable Venice - albeit a very dirty and slushy one. The past few weeks were spent by different 'agencies' digging up most of the main roads in our neighbourhood and filling them up quite haphazardly once their work was over.

These seem to be a common problem in many cities. City managers do not seem to have the foresight that such people need to have. Indeed, city managers, where they do exist, seem to be more concerned with preserving their positions and the trappings that go with them than with managing the city.

While it is all well to talk about citizens' initiatives and similar do-it-yourself city maintenance schemes, who is to take to task these people who have been chosen by us to keep our city clean, to give us safe drinking water, to give us a safe city to live in?