Vendors plying their trade outside Bourda Market on Robb Street are pleading for help as the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Tuesday descended on what was regarded as the Caribbean’s only “drive through” market and removed vendors without any prior notice.
Some of the displaced vendors on Robb Street
Vendors told Guyana Times that they were given no warning before the eviction, and Town Clerk Royston King, along with City Constabulary Officers showed up during the afternoon and ordered everyone to remove their stalls and goods vehicles from the area.
“They never tell we anything. Royston King just come and shut the place down and tell everybody move out,” one distraught vendor said.
The vendors complained that they have incurred hundreds of thousands in losses as a result, since most of their merchandise is perishable.
“I now come here; I ain’t even sell a load yet. All me goods gon spoil. Watch the plantain them getting black, black, cause everything ga deh in the sun. The cassava ga throw way, it get blue. All that is money down the drain!” another merchant said.
While lamenting the injustice of the Mayor and City Council’s most recent action, the vendors explained that they had run out of options on how to maintain their families.
Additionally, there was mention of a fee that the vendors would pay on a daily basis to ply their trade at the location, but Guyana Times was able to understand that this fee was only a “landing fee” for persons to off-load their goods and remove them within a specific period.
At the scene, the Deputy Mayor of Georgetown, Sherod Duncan was seen speaking to vendors, who voiced their complaints.
He disclosed that he was completely unaware of the new situation and his visit to the scene was “a fact-finding” mission.
