RECOGNISING the need for effective management of markets, Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Norman Whittaker has mounted a call for the activation of Market Management Committees (MMC). 

He has also underscored the importance of markets to the development of communities and to providing quality services to residents.
It was then that the Minister made the call for “Market Management Committees to manage markets.” The committee, according to him, would include a total of seven representatives.
“We want the Market Management Committee to ideally have three vendors,” Whittaker said, adding that the vendors will be elected by others in the market place and will be joined by four other representatives.
COMMITTEE OF SEVEN
The proposed committee of seven will also include four representatives to be drawn from the subject Ministry, Regional Democratic Councils, and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils.
Explaining the management structure further, the Minister said the representatives will be “one from the [Local Government] Ministry, two from the RDC and two from the NDC.” The body of seven will be led by a Chairman that “must be from the NDC.”
MARKET FUND

An important aspect of the committee’s functions, aside from the day-to- day management of the market, is management of a Market Fund. The Local Government Minister stressed that MMC’s “must have its own bank account.”
To ensure a transparent process, he said that the account, which is separate from the NDC’s account, will have “signatories”. “Two will come from the NDC” and the other proposed signatory would be the Regional Executive Officer.
The Minister disclosed that the need for MMCs “came out of a number of discussions” where it was uncovered that NDCs would ignore their obligation to collect rates and taxes thus placing a burden on revenue collected from markets.
Referring to NDCs burdening market funds, Whittaker referenced the Linden Town Council that some time ago was given approval to use monies from the market fund to “pay salaries”, which he said “should come from the general account.”
Moreover, he expressed concern over the deplorable conditions of markets at both Linden and Corriverton, although these establishments are key sources of revenue for those local government bodies.
The Local Government Minister noted that the call for MMCs show an urgent need for more investment to improve market infrastructure and other facilities.
A Market Management Committee was set up in the mining town of Bartica, Region 7 (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). This was confirmed by Interim Management Committee Chairman of the NDC, Mr. Ovid Benjamin, who commented that the market has been kept up to standard since the establishment of the committee.
He further noted that the collective effort of all the representatives has seen the Council responding promptly to concerns of infrastructural weaknesses raised by vendors.

(By Derwayne Wills)