While its members urged better enforcement of rules for vending, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Monday held off on taking a decision on senior administration staff involved in the removal of vendors after the grenade blast at the Stabroek Market Square last Wednesday.
At the first statutory meeting of the Mayor and City Council for the year, councillor Eon Andrews moved for a suspension of business to address the role of the Town Clerk, Chief Constable and the City Engineer in the removal of the vendors. The motion was seconded by Councillor Gwendoline McGowan.
“Specifically ascertain what has been the role of the Town Clerk and Senior Officers in this incident; neither the subject minister [Kellawan Lall Local Government Minister] nor the other Minister [Robeson Benn Minister of Works] has any legal authority to give directives to the Town Clerk or senior officers,” Mayor Hamilton Green told Town Clerk Yonette Pluck-Cort.
In response, she explained that “The initial role was to have persons vending beyond 6pm” removed but things “took a turn” when security in the area was compromised.
An extraordinary statutory meeting was held by the Mayor and City Council last Friday and councillors were very vocal in their dissatisfaction over the manner in which the removal of vendors was handled.
The few councillors present at the hastily-called meeting were furious at the actions that were taken by the Town Clerk.
It is believed that the Town Clerk, acting on directives from the Local Government Ministry, passed down the decision to the City Engineer and constables to demolish vendors’ stalls on Wednesday night.
At that meeting a decision was taken to give the officers a chance to reply to at the regular statutory meeting before any action is taken against them.
On Monday, Deputy Mayor Robert Williams, during the debate on the motion, pointed out that Section 95 of the Municipal and District Councils Act establishes the need for a local government commission.
Further, it states that in the absence of the local government commission, the minister has responsibilities such as appointing and recruiting officers for the council. “Any other instruction the minister wishes to have carried out has to be conveyed to the council in writing where there is an order or through the mayor as a request,” Williams said. He added: “We are entering dangerous waters…where the administration is being called to do x, y and z, in contradiction to the laws and bylaws of the council.”
Meanwhile, Councillor Pat Chase-Green told Mayor Green that while he tries to go the extra mile to assist people, he ends up looking incompetent. “So many things we have offered the vendors to stay in line.
I give them two weeks after going back out there and the constables close their eye and we have the same ugly situation,” she said.
Chase-Green accused her fellow councillors of playing “too much politics.” “We have let a blind eye go and it has become a monster,” she added, referring to the out-of-control vending situation at the market.
She said the council must take control and enforce rules for vending in the Stabroek Market Square until vendors can reallocate to Stelling View in April.
Some vendors have been given lots in Stelling View, called ‘Donkey City.’ The vendors were given until April of this year to complete stalls and cease vending in the market square.
Meanwhile, supporting Chase-Green’s call for the council to be stricter in the enforcement of rules as regards vending were Councillor Fitzgerald Agard, who noted that “We have to be serious as a council…we have been lacking in this area,” as well as Councillor Junior Garrett, who pointed out that there needs to be a structured approach by the councillors to vending.
After the back and forth between the councillors, Green moved to have the matter discussed at a more “constitutional” level.
Throughout most of the discussion, the Town Clerk was silent.
