Dear Editor,
Finally, vendors doing their illegal vending in front of Demico have been removed. Now you can actually see that there is a Demico there. Same for the Muneshwers building after they sued and the Judge ruled in their favour. Same for Kirpalani’s. Now, the Georgetown Hospital has served notice they want the vendors moved. Already, Government has served strong messages to the seawall vendors. Meanwhile, there is a proliferation of vendors in front of our beloved Cuffy Monument. Now I can’t see the fella very well. Why has the Council not moved to remove illegal vendors as soon as they start? Who is minding the store? Why wait after many, many years and those vendors think they have acquired prescriptive rights to their spots. They think if Council moves them, then the Government has to provide alternatives for them. The same problem at the Berbice Bridge area where shacks have gone up and nobody is stopping it pronto. The Court ruling on the removal of vendors is a precedent similar to a class action lawsuit. Every individual business does not have to sue. It’s now a general ruling for all businesses. City Council needs to get to work to bring order to the City.
I noticed along the UG Road and Cyril Potter College, there are vendors along the UG and CPCE fence who need to be removed too. One guy built a huge building across the drain so workers cannot clean that drain. Their sign advertises delivery services, so essentially this private business is operating on the government reserve with a permanent building along the CPCE fence. There is also a food shack at the right entrance to the CPCE that creates a ghetto look. The UG Road takes us into our only University and visitors must not see vendor shacks bespoiling the drive. We cannot allow ghettos to emerge everywhere, now that we want to be the Dubai of Caricom. Mindsets must change. We must think “modernization” and high standards.
I have not seen such unregulated and rampant vending in other Caricom countries. There is a guy hawking two little squares of sponge. How can he make a living off of that? How about the guys selling steering wheel covers and wipers? Given the shortage of skills in Guyana, maybe the Ministry of Labour needs to do some outreaches and job counselling to recruit small vendors into meaningful, gainful employment. I am sure the labour market can absorb them into jobs with NIS and pension benefits later, which gives better job security and stable earnings. NGOs can take on such a project.
From the vendors’ perspective they are doing an “honest” living which is true, but that does not confer the right to violate city regulations and acting as bullies setting up shop in front of established businesses, sometimes just by their doors. Sounds like a form of bullyism. I noticed a vendor operating out of a vehicle has set up a copying business encroaching on the walkway in front of the GRA building. Council must remove these kinds of encroachments, not wait for others to do the same. We must also continue to remove abandoned vehicles along the roadways. There are several in front of Cummings Lodge school that need to be moved ASAP, and the authorities need to shut down that unsightly scrap metal operation just next to the school. Bring back order to Guyana!
Sincerely,
M. Singh
