Facilities at Port Mourant Market appalling – vendors

Vendors who conduct business at the Port Mourant Market on the Corentyne in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) have expressed concern over the appalling state of sanitation facilities there. They say the market lacks functional washroom facilities, and they are forced to use facilities at nearby business places. They say the drainage network is smelly, and this matter is concerning.
When this publication visited the market, the door to one of the vendors’ washrooms had wooden bars nailed across it, while the other had a sign reading, ‘out of order’.
Paulette Alert, a vendor who has been conducting business at that facility for the past 26 years, told this publication that the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) has not been cleaning the facility, and when it rains, the stench forces them to vacate the area.
“When the rains fall, we cannot sit there and sell; it is smelling very bad,” she said.
Rookmine Ramsamouch, who has been vending outside the Port Mourant Market for 15 years, has explained that the drain needs to be cleaned in order for the smelly water to flow out.
“People are coming to buy, and when they see the drain, they walk and go away. They done want to shop from us because the place is too dirty!” the vegetable vendor has said.
Vendors who sell fruits there have also spoken about the clogged and smelly drains, but have asked not to be photographed or have their names mentioned in the article because it would negatively impact their businesses.
Some vendors explained that several Government part-time workers who work at the market do nothing but sit around all day.
“They say that is not their work, and you have to get men to do that work. They are all ‘10-day workers’, so they have to cooperate and do the work,” Ramsamouch has said.
More than a dozen Government part-time employees work at the Port Mourant Market, and they fall under the supervision of the Johns/Port Mourant NDC.
“One day, a boy come and he try a little bit; and then he stop, because he say nobody helping him. And he left it,” Ramsamouch disclosed.
She said that, with the toilets being shut down, vendors utilise facilities at a nearby supermarket.
“One day, I wanted to go to the toilet, and my son had to come for me and carry me home and bring me back. And I tell them (market authorities) that I am not paying fees because I can’t get to go to the toilet,” she explained.
Vendors say it has been more than one month since the toilets have been dysfunctional.
“We don’t have a toilet to go in,” Alert has said on the issue.
Asked whether this issue has been raised with authorities at the NDC, she noted that that was done on many occasions, but the situation remains unchanged.
Other vendors have concurred with this assertion, and have noted that those who speak out are victimized. Alert is, however, of the view that if they are paying stall rentals, they should have certain facilities accessible to them as vendors.
“We are not getting no justice, so we cannot pay the market fee. When the woman from the NDC came, we told her, and she never came back; she just sending the girls to collect money,” vendors contend.
Vendors who sell outside of the market on weekdays are charged $100 per day by the NDC; and while the drainage situation is among their major concerns, those who operate within the market on Saturdays also contend that poor lighting within the building has forced some of them to provide their own lighting at their stalls.
Some of those vendors have admitted that they have been refusing to pay the stand fee, while others say they reluctantly do so. (G4)