City Hall pushes for completion of proposed site in 24 hours

Stabroek Market restoration

– PPP condemns action by Govt

One day after angry vendors protested in front of City Hall and the Ministry of the Presidency against their removal from the Stabroek Market area and the lack of a smooth transition to the new proposed site on Hadfield Street, the City Council is pushing to have the location opened for vending within the next 24 hours.

On Wednesday, vendors took their cries to the front of Parliament Building during the first sitting of the National Assembly after a hiatus. Several vendors gathered outside the barricades at the Public Building to express their disapproval of how the situation is being handled.
Town Clerk Royston King stated on Wednesday that the contractors would be working assiduously to have work completed on the new site within the next 24 hours.
King, who is overseeing construction work at the proposed site, also reassured the vendors that they would be satisfied with the final results at the new location, which is situated south of the Parliament Building.
The new temporary location is said to be equipped with facilities that were absent at the present location which will make vending more comfortable.
In a recent interview, the Town Clerk told Guyana Times that the site was expected to have proper lighting, as well as full security and sanitary facilities.
Vendors can also look forward to having compactors to deal with the garbage generated and removable, collapsible tents.
These facilities will, however, come at a price, as King had indicated that the vendors would be required to pay to maintain the site. The amount to be paid by each vendor has not been disclosed.

Apology
In a social media post, Deputy Mayor Sherrod Duncan expressed his apologies to the vendors for the circumstances surrounding the removal.
“I believed that we should have exerted greater efficacy on getting the proposed area ready for our vendors, who are such an important part of the character of our City. I offer the City and affected vendors in particular my unreserved apology,” part of the post stated.
This came after vendors had lambasted City Hall for removing them without adequate plans in place to have them transitioned immediately to the new location as was promised.
During a protest on Tuesday, the vendors had voiced their anger against the decision, which they said put a halt to their livelihood.
In addition, vendors had claimed that when they turned up at the location to ply their trade, the gates were secured with padlocks, prohibiting them from entering.
King had responded to this, stating that the property was privately owned and City Hall had received permission to utilise the land, but only until construction work had been completed would it be opened for vending.
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), in a statement to the media, condemned the actions of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government, stating that it was putting up a “façade” about cleaning up the city when its objective was to “remove the vendors”.
“Operating in true military style, facilitated by civilian operatives, the APNU/AFC Government demonstrated their anti-people, anti-poor and elitist predisposition towards a social strata, which in the face of rising unemployment and increasing economic difficulties have chosen to eke out a living – a living that has placed them in a daily and nightly struggle to make end meets,” the Party said.
The City Council was also lambasted for being stimulated by Central Government to make the decision which is contrary to the laws of Guyana which allows for vending to be done in the Stabroek Market Square from 06:00h to 18:00h.
The PPP believes that speaking to the vendors to derive a way forward on how they could earn a living wage would have been a more approachable method instead.
It maintained its position that “the vendors must be allowed to ply their trade and earn a living in an honest and law-abiding manner, as they have been doing.”