Municipality refuses to compensate vendor after goods damaged by tar

…media ordered to leave market

A clothes and handbag vendor of the Skeldon Market in Region Six (East Berbice/ Corentyne) has been left in shock after opening one of her stalls and finding some of her stock covered with tar and water.

She received an even greater shock when she was allegedly told by the municipality that she would not be compensated.
Pulmattie Annand, who operates 10 stalls at the market, which is run by the Corriverton Municipality, says she was told that tar had leaked from the gutter in the ceiling and fallen onto one of her stands.
“When I opened the stand, there was a lot of water and tar on the footwear,” the 37-year-old woman revealed.
Annand, who sells ladies’ and gents’ footwear, school bags, suitcases and travelling bags, has been venting in that market for the past 15 years. She said that following the discovery last Thursday, she went to the Mayor’s Office, but was told that the Council cannot compensate her for the damages.
“He told me to take what action I want to take, so I went and lodged a complaint with the Market Clerk,” the woman related, adding that her damages amounted to some $489,000.
Meanwhile, while the media was speaking with Annand, a woman approached, interrupted the interview, and ordered that the media leave the market, since, according to her, it is an offence to video inside of the market.
However, when further questioned, the woman said she is the Market Clerk. She claimed that although the market was a public place, she cannot allow any videoing inside the facility.

When asked about the section of the law that makes it an offence to video inside the market, she could not answer, but rather walked away.
Meanwhile, the contractor, who was at the time undertaking repair works to the roof of the market, explained that the guttering was faulty.
“The gutter is not good; it has holes, so they asked me to put tar in it and put a new gutter inside the old one…,” he told the media.
Mayor Winston Roberts, who arrived in the market, also said that persons are not allowed to video in the market, but he also could not say what law the media was breaking by conducting the interview at the facility.
He, however, confirmed that the Municipality was fixing the guttering at the market.
Several vendors have reported that when it rains, their stalls are drenched. Annand said it was not the first time that items in her stall have been affected, but she said this is the first time that she had suffered such severe damages. (G4)