THE Georgetown Mayor and City Council is at it again– this time with the eviction of a group of beauticians and barbers from the Merriman Mall.The Council has insisted that the sole reason for moving the operators is their failure to keep their end of the bargain– that is, keeping their surroundings clean and paying the weekly $1500 environmental fee.
For their part, the beauty workers said they have done everything the M&CC has asked them to do, but they feel there is a hidden agenda to get them off the property to facilitate the setting up of parking spaces under the parking metres project. There is also another side of the story and that is, some of the beauty workers who were taken off the streets and granted permission to ply their trade at the mall had actually abandoned their stations, citing that the area was off the beaten track and actually returned to the America Street area to do business.
City Hall has control over the Merriman Mall and to its credit, it has spent considerable amounts of cash to clean it up since May 2015. It is therefore reasonable to expect that the authorities at City Hall would demand a level of care and discipline from the operators.
However, what cannot be lost sight of is the manner in which officials at City Hall continue to deal with these thorny bread-and-butter issues. The picture of close to a dozen young women standing near their dismantled stations — some almost in tears — tells a sorry story and it should jolt the conscience of the decision-makers at the M&CC. We have heard pronouncements to the effect that the women were “untidy” and the likes, but we have never heard what efforts were made to address these matters with them.
This newspaper has said in this column before that there is a huge disconnect between the M&CC and the existing realities in society. The treatment of the vendors — post-Local Government Elections — has seen the Council moving them from one area to another, absent any consultation and seeming regard for the impact — positive or negative — the decision would have.
In the past, we have seen representatives of the Council in what can be construed as talking down to the vendors rather than seeking way(s) to accommodate them, with the aim of finding common ground and arriving at consensus. And in spite of the public outcry that the Council allow the vendors the right to be heard, it stuck to its position that it will not entertain further discussion on the matter, and its decision is final and binding.
As reported by this newspaper, the barbers and a few cosmetologists, who were said to be keeping their surroundings clean, were allowed to remain on the spot. But they too told the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday that they were not provided any details as to if they will be allowed to remain there. The resulting ill-feelings between the two groups have reached the point where some vendors having felt that their confidence was betrayed by councillors and there exists little, if any, regard for them made moves last year to establish a trade union to represent their affairs with the Council.
Being elected to public office carries expectations of not only adhering to laws and by-laws, but also to temper these with what is just and fair. At the city level, it may require revisiting by-laws not merely as deterrents in dealing with the city or making them more acceptable, but also with an eye that vendors and council can work together to keep the business of the town alive, and all attendant areas that impact their well-being are being observed.
Street-vending in Guyana is not an industry that attracts persons leaving one area and coming primarily to buy. The industry merely satisfies — on most occasions — someone who is passing by, may see something and like it, or may see something that is needed and was being forgotten. The services that were provided by the cosmetologists and barbers on Merriman Mall are not the ones that are equivalent to a beauty shop or other such establishments in a fixed location or building. Treating with street-vending also has to take cognisance of the culture of the industry and the role it plays in the delivery of goods and services to the society. More importantly, decisions must factor in that this sector of our society enjoys its deserving place.