Dear Editor,
I read a letter in the press recently written by Pitchan Bharat and captioned “Why is Royston King allowed to behave like this?” in which he expresses his disappointment as a staunch supporter of the Alliance For Change (AFC), at the behaviour of Royston King, who was installed by the coalition Government, as it relates to the erection of a stall between Robb Street and North Road which he constructed at a cost of a little over 3/4 million dollars, and which King has ordered him to cease all work on and dismantle the structure.
According to Bharat, he applied for and was granted permission to erect this stall which has created employment of nine persons, of which five are African youths that the coalition Government promised jobs and which he contributes for, that little space, 0,000 annually to the city’s coffers.
He is puzzled to sort out the rationale behind the decision-making process whereby approval is granted for construction of a stall and after the work is almost completed, instructions are issued for it to be demolished.
What Pitchan Bharat fails to realise is that he is a friend of the AFC and the coalition Government but not necessarily a friend of Royston King, who is a law unto himself.
Has he forgotten what King did to the Georgetown-based Pan African Movement, headed by Dr Jocelyn Loncke, when he used the Council’s workforce to demolish two concrete walls constructed by that body and towed away a 20-ft container from the facility which they had acquired from former Mayor Hamilton Green, even as the Movement had big plans for utilising the land leased to them, and then turned around and gave a nearby prime spot to the operators of the Jerk Hut, friends of his?
Is Mr Bharat unaware of what King did to 20 vendors who plied their trade outside the old Bedford School on Bourda Street, in Georgetown just after the School was purchased by a wealthy businessman who wanted it torn down and the area cleared up?
And this is just in the Bourda area alone. Clearly Bharat’s stall would be in competition with the new stalls built by King and leased out to his cohorts around the Bourda Market.
If Pitchan Bharat is serious about having a stall there then he has to forget about his acquaintance with the AFC and the Coalition Government, and go and talk to King properly.
Sincerely,
Jermain Johnson
