Some Stabroek Market vendors reacted in anger yesterday afternoon when government officials, who were accompanied my members of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) during a tour of the area, proposed the relocation of vendors who vend directly in front of the market gates on the northern side of Water Street.
Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall accompanied by Public Works Minister Robeson Benn as well as Deputy Mayor Robert Williams and other officials of the municipality, toured sections of the Stabroek Market area around the busy 4 o’clock hour.
Benn and Lall questioned the location of the vendors who ply their trade directly in front of the market gates, stating that this should not have been allowed by the City. Lall also pointed out that there have been reports of vendors selling their stalls to other persons without the knowledge of the municipality and also asked what City Hall has been doing to address the issue.
Williams stated that the municipality has received reports of transactions as regards the latter, noting that only yesterday the municipality was dealing with one such case.
At this point the presence of the officials drew the attention of vendors and members of the public, who openly questioned the reasoning behind the proposal to have them relocated.
The vendors stated that they had been selling at the location for years and questioned why the officials only realized yesterday that they, the vendors, were not supposed to be at their current location. Some vendors stated that they had families to maintained and stated that the government officials as well as those from the M&CC should attend to more important issues, such as the current garbage build-up located close to the route 41 minibus park, some noting that they had been paying the required taxes to vend in the area. They said the authorities should work towards finding a solution to the garbage issue as soon as possible, since some persons have been complaining about health-related effects that the heaps of garbage in the immediate vicinity of the market had on their health.
Minister Benn stated yesterday that the M&CC needs to put its house in order and do its business better when questioned on whether the administration will intervene in the matter.
Stabroek News was informed that a solution is still to be reached for the garbage problem as City Hall is still unable to garner the sums of monies owed to its garbage contractors. The municipality was working to have the matter settled by yesterday as the department encouraged citizens to adopt temporary measures to dispose of their garbage.
The team of officials yesterday afternoon covered that section of Water Street located in front of the Stabroek Market before proceeding to a location behind the Route 32 minibus park, which is being proposed as a site for vendors to be relocated to.
