Editor, A NOTICE is being circulated to vendors around the city that seems to have come from the Office of the Town Clerk, stating that all street vendors in Georgetown will have to register with the city at which time (January 23 to February 27) they must have in their possession National Identification Card / Passport, TIN Certificate, two passport-sized photographs and three thousand dollars ($3000).What is not clear to us is that if $3000 is just registration, a yearly fee, or if they will have to continue paying the $1500 per week. What is strange is that food handlers pay a yearly fee of $3000 for their licence, so that if vendors have to pay $3000 for registration, plus the $1500 cleansing fee per week ($6000) per month, this takes it to at least $75000 per year. The message being conveyed by the various oppressive actions of City Hall is that ‘You comply or you will be decimated,’ A clear act of terror.
City Hall seems to have a fixation on vendors, they seem to have no plan as to how they must treat with these small business entrepreneurs; they plant them in some anti-business area one day, then unceremoniously uproot them shortly after.
There are affluent property-owners out there who owe the City Council millions of dollars. They are not going after them, but try to disguise their inefficiencies by creating a farcical Christmas- time amnesty, an exercise that is obviously geared towards benefitting the rich property-owners. The city is the biggest loser in this exercise.
Vending in Guyana has become very traumatic in that a vendor leaves his / her home with a great apprehension, since they are not sure what spontaneous, draconian terror tactics, City Hall was going to put on them. What vendors need to know is into what account City Hall put the $6000- plus dollars per month collected from them.
Obviously, some of the money could have been used to develop a business- friendly place for the vendors. What is heart- rending, is that the vendors had to endure more than twenty (20) years of this kind of behaviour under the former Government, but even though we have turned a new page, it’s the same script. What needs to be noted is that the vendors made a tangible contribution to that change.
The new directors seem to be basking in the euphoria of their assumed power, but it is by the promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak. (Eric Hoffer)
Effective actions to deal with the vending situation is dependent on having an agreed policy and procedure. If the same problem is occurring regularly, it simply means that effective policies are not in place. The actions of the Georgetown City Council is contributing to — if not creating — an underclass culture of idleness, dependency and self-perpetuating poverty.
It is pellucidly clear that their refusal to meet with the Guyana Market Vendors Union — coupled with their concomitant, crass behavior — is geared towards the vendors / stallholders not having union representation. Finally, it is no secret that most of the vendors / stallholders are hard line, militant supporters of the present administration, but some actors at City Hall are displaying very perplexing behavior, which is slowly eroding the fabric of PNC militancy in Georgetown.
Eon Andrews President