STALLHOLDERS of Georgetown’s Bourda Market are expressing profound disgust and dissatisfaction at City Hall’s recalcitrance in addressing concerns they have been raising for months now. The Guyana Chronicle was told that there has been no running water piped into the butchery section or the fish pond area of the market; and vendors say that despite the presence of a stand pipe in the fish pond, no water comes through the tap.
One vendor who gave her name as Sherren Yhap, operator of a butcher’s stall, said that when the stand pipe in the fish pond was operational, those who operated butchery stalls were prevented from using it. She explained that the vendors operating out of the fish pond were the ones who initiated the move to have the pipe placed in that area, and as such they hold themselves as the custodians. According to the vendors, the non-working pipe in the fish pond is the only one in the entire market.
In an effort to verify their claims, this publication took a walk through the market, and could not find a single pipe other than that one located in the fish pond. Meanwhile, getting water into the market to wash down meat and fish stalls and do other chores, although not entirely impossible, is burdensome for stallholders. They told the Chronicle they are usually forced to fetch water for several metres into the market, and that at present they are getting water from somewhere between North Road and Robb Street, paying as much as $80 for a five-gallon bucket of the commodity. Additionally those wishing to have water on standby are paying close to $400 for a barrel.
Distraught stallholders have raised the issue of the non-working pipe at all levels of the City Council, but their concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears. One woman who refused to give her name for fear of victimization said she had even spoken to the Georgetown mayor about the issue, and he had promised to have it rectified. According to her, stall holders have repeatedly approached the revenue clerks and other council workers about their plight, and the officials would usually raise those and other issues at council meetings; but, for some time now, there has not been any such meeting. The woman explained that that is not the only concern brought to the attention of the market authorities.
The market has not seen any major development in the longest while either. “This going on for years (with) no improvement in the market, and they have the butchers going around behind the stalls and urinating; so, when the market flood, all of that scent does raise up, and it’s not healthy for us in the market.”
Many persons who spoke with this publication were reluctant to give their names. However, one man is of the view that, once the water is available, he is thankful and there is not much to fuss over. He opined that stallholders should not fuss over having to fetch water to their places of business, despite the distance. According to him, if water was not running anywhere near to the market, there would have been something to fuss over.
Another stallholder sees the plight as a real bugbear to carrying on operations. “It’s very difficult to get water in here. For a fish pond like here, I think we suppose to be having a pipe, because even the beef section and all outside, all over suffering without water. (Stallholders of) the beef section have to go outside and full water on the pave also. The fish people have to pay, you see barrels? And we have to pay these people to go and full water when we having a pipe here.”
According to that vendor, the problem is compounded by vendors who continue to vend at the gates to the market unchallenged by market officials. The vendor explained that when vendors were encouraged to occupy stalls in the market, they were assured of being able to get sales, as no one was to have been allowed to vend where those vendors are now vending unchallenged. Vendors are also peeved that at being forced to pay their monthly stall rental and daily landing fees for their goods when those arrive, contending that this measure is causing them to suffer.
Meanwhile, stallholders made it clear they were not expecting much, if anything at all, to be done in remedy of the situation, after speaking with the Guyana Chronicle. This, they say, is so because of the many news agencies they had visited and the empty promises of the management of the market. Yesterday efforts to contact the acting clerk of markets were futile.