Dear Editor,
WITNESSING the condescending manner in which Georgetown Town Clerk Royston King spoke to vendors at a meeting he held recently, under a tent in the forecourt of City Hall, speaks volumes of the contempt and disregard the administration of the city has for these small business persons.Not only was King’s tone of voice offensive, but what he said and how he said was also offensive.
The language he used, the way his sentences were constructed, the sound of his words, and the way he gesticulated suggested that he thought the vendors were not as clever or important as he was.

King spoke as though he were some imperial overlord addressing his unintelligent subjects, all of whom had no choice but to accept his tough talk, his twisted logic, and his newfound vision for Georgetown, even though he worked at the municipality for over thirty years.

Although using a microphone in an enclosed tent in a relatively cramped area, King shouted at his audience until he was hoarse. It was not a dialogue, but a belligerent monologue in which King was lecturing and scolding those persons like they were some wayward children.

Listening to King’s sermon, one got the impression that the municipality was faultless and blameless in the vending situation. He paid no heed to vending as a socio-economic phenomenon. He seemed unaware that street vendors are an integral part of urban economies around the world, offering easy access to a wide range of goods and services in public spaces. He was preoccupied only with rounding up the more than three hundred vendors and squeezing them into a space that could hardly accommodate one hundred persons.

King, in his presentation, sought to cast blame on the previous central government for the vending situation, which is both dishonest and disingenuous. It is no secret that, for reasons best known to themselves, many businessmen had encouraged the vendors to do what they had done; but, more importantly, and King is old enough to know, it was Hamilton Green, the former Mayor, who had encouraged street vendors to encroach on the pavements of store owners. This was done since in the 1980s.

In fact, Green had gone further than that, encouraging people to squat on lands that did not belong to them, such as land aback of the Botanical Gardens, a site owned by Continental Agencies and designated for the construction of a hotel.

Does King realize that most street vendors provide the main source of income for their households, bringing food to their families and paying the school fees for their children? These informal workers have strong linkages to the formal economy; most of them source the goods they sell from formal enterprises in Georgetown.

Street vendors create jobs, not only for themselves, but for porters, transport operators, storage providers and others. Street vending has added vibrancy to urban life in our capital, and can be considered a cornerstone of our historical and cultural heritage.

Regards,
DEODARIE PUTULALL