By Telesha Ramnarine

STABROEK Market vendors are unsure for how long they will be permitted to vend at the new location, south of Public Buildings.So far, they have been told by City Hall officials,only that an agreement was made with the owner of the spot for them to remain there for three months. The vendors have no clue what their fate will be after this time.

Some are wondering if they will be made to endure the current disaster of transition all over again, or if they will settle in and become comfortable at the new spot only to have to leave it shortly.

As it is, no specific details have been offered to the sellers and so many of them are simply guessing their way through, or as one woman said on Sunday afternoon, “We just have to follow the multitude.”

Vending for 16 years now outside Stabroek Market, one vendor said if the City Council wanted to move them, they could have made proper arrangements to have them relocated and provide to them specific details on how long they were going to be temporarily removed.

“They just gave us a couple days’ notice to move. You are leaving us out of business. It shows me that this was not properly planned, because if you wanted us to move, you would have prepared the place so we could have had a smooth transition,” the woman complained.

It is difficult to reach Town Clerk Royston King for comment, and efforts to contact other City Council officials on the issue also proved futile.

Meanwhile, vendors have recently voiced their concern, through protests and other means, that the new site will kill their business.

Many of the vendors told this newspaper on Sunday that they have opted to conduct business mainly between the hours of 06:00 hrs and 18:00 hrs due to security reasons.
While they would have taken the chance to continue business into the night outside Stabroek Market, they believe it would not be safe to do so at the new location.

The City Council had promised to hand over stalls to vendors on Friday, but they were still doing so on Saturday. Because of this, and other factors such as heavy rains, hardly any business was done on Saturday.

On Sunday, hardly anyone turned up for business, except about two clothes vendors and vendors who sell drinks and water.

Many more vendors are expected to turn up this morning for business.

City Hall had said recently that it is not seeking to put stakeholders out of business, but rather to ensure that vending is done in an atmosphere that is conducive and legitimate, which would be of mutual benefit to stakeholders and Council.

The municipality had called vendors to exercise patience as the relocation exercise takes effect.

Georgetown Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan had mentioned to this newspaper 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.