Vendors protest removal from Stabroek Market Square

A group of angry vendors, who were removed from the Stabroek Market Square, where they ply their trade

on a daily basis, staged a protest outside Ministry of the Presidency before marching down to City Hall on Friday.
The Mayor and City Council is removing them temporarily to the vacant lot south of Parliament Buildings so that the market square can be cleaned. However, vendors feel that this move is “unfair” and “disrespectful”.
At the protest, vendor Arrisa Richmond told Guyana Times that she was not at the meeting when the agreement was made and noted that the area where City Council wants to send them is “not prosperous.” The single-parent of three also stated that she intends to return to vend at Stabroek despite the four-month removal which City Council has imposed.
“They seh come Sunday fuh clean [and] I coming an give dem a hand fuh clean… but I will be going back there to vend on Tuesday right on because they seh they want de place look nice for Jubilee; I want piece ah de Jubilee money, too,” Richmond stressed.
Other vendors vowed they will not be taken for granted and some noted they would not go anywhere.
“I am not moving from there, I am selling out here 22 years… Jagdeo used to call we in and talk to us whether he like we or not. Jagdeo used to deal with we and is he put we there; we vote for a change and this is what we get?” questioned a vendor in anger.
She stated, “No vending, no Jubilee”, and noted that vendors intend to continue their protest actions.
“We is de government backbone, we put everybody weh they deh right now, and we deserve better treatment than this,” a male vendor expressed.
After locking the gates, City Council tried to ease the tensions when Deputy Mayor Sherrod Duncan came out to speak with the vendors.
“We’re all very concerned about the vendors there. We all want you folks to earn a good living, that’s why we’re saying we’re not ceasing vending on the whole but we want to be able to take care of that square. We understand all the concerns, the thieves, the junkies… that is why we are in a massive push for the reorganisation of that square,” Duncan told the crowd.
Despite his attempts to calm the gathering, the protestors continued to vent their anger over the current management of City Hall.
On Thursday, Town Clerk Royston King during a meeting with some 400 vendors said that they would be removed for four months to facilitate a clean-up exercise as part of an overarching plan to secure the integrity and health of Stabroek Market Square.
In the agreement City Hall imposed, it was stated that a “massive clean-up” exercise will take place on Sunday May 1 and vendors, who have stalls in the municipal markets, were asked to return and occupy those stalls. Should these vendors fail to do so, it will result in the “repossession of those facilities.”
“Vendors, who are plying their trade at the Stabroek Market Square and contiguous areas would be temporary relocated to a plot of land south of the Parliament Building. The Council would provide lighting, 24 hours security, and sanitary facilities,” the Council had noted.
At the meeting Thursday, King told stakeholders that land is adequate for all the vendors especially those who reside on the periphery of the square. Vendors had raised concerns over the plot of land identified. They had questioned if there would indeed have enough space for all of them to ply their trade.
City Council had however stated that all vendors at the meeting supported the plans.