STABROEK Market vendors who were relocated recently to a facility south of the Public Buildings are complaining that spots are being made available there for persons who have never vended in front of Stabroek Market. As such, those vendors who have been plying their trade for many years are left without a place to sell.
Mayor Patricia Chase-Green spoke of the issue at the Council’s most recent statutory meeting at City Hall, noting that numerous complaints have been received from the vendors.
“This is unfair and it should not happen,” the Mayor pointed out. She requested that the Markets Committee intervene and resolve the issue by Friday.
Earlier this month, an estimated 130 Stabroek Market vendors officially commenced their relocation to the Old Royal Castle site opposite the Linden bus park, under a temporary contractual arrangement that is expected to last three months.
The Mayor had noted that the relocation exercise formed part of the Council’s agenda to clean and beautify the city. She admitted that over the years, vending went out of control. “We take responsibility for losing control over the vending situation,” she said.
City Hall had called on persons who own stalls within the market to return to those locations and the council noted that in excess of 40 vendors were identified as legal stallholders operating on the streets. They were warned that should they continue to use the stalls for storage purposes, they will be repossessed.
Meanwhile, City Hall had said recently that it is not seeking to put stakeholders out of business, but its goal is to ensure that vending is done in an atmosphere that is conducive and legitimate, which would be of mutual benefit to stakeholders and the Council.
Georgetown Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan had said that the move by City Hall to re-organise the Stabroek Market Bazaar is perhaps the single largest undertaking in that vicinity since the market was constructed in 1881.
According to the Georgetown municipality, if the city is to attain the status of a top international city, change is imperative.
It is unclear what plans the municipality has in store for the vendors at the end of July, when the temporary relocation period will conclude.
Meanwhile, the opposition, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has criticised the relocation exercise. The PPP deemed the matter “the brutal displacement of vendors and the wanton destruction of their stalls in Georgetown.”
According to the PPP, the reasons provided by the administrators of the capital city regarding clean-up activities for this year’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, “as the justification to remove the vendors is unpardonable and must be rejected by all fair-minded Guyanese.” The PPP said that the process was undertaken without consultation with the vendors. (Telesha Persaud)