More than 30 vendors recently placed outside Demico House were ordered to move again yesterday as police said they were operating illegally.
These vendors were relocated following meetings over the weekend with Minister of Public Works and Transport Robeson Benn and Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall. Despite being given permission from both ministries to vend at the location, vendors were again told that they were operating illegally. They had been removed from around the Stabroek Market square after a grenade explosion last Wednesday
Several efforts made to reach either government minister via telephone for a comment on the development yesterday were unsuccessful.
Junior Benjamin-Todd, a vendor who described himself as the “voice of the vendors,” told this newspaper that up to early last week he sold hats at the Stabroek Market square. Todd said he was not present when the grenade exploded, killing Helton Lazarus and injuring 18 others. He was shopping in Suriname at the time of the incident but was later informed of the situation.
Todd said he immediately abandoned his business and returned home to learn that vendors would not be allowed to sell at their locations. On Friday, the man explained, a group of vendors met with President Bharrat Jagdeo who told them that vending was apart of the Guyanese culture and this was something which the state was trying to leave untouched even as it made efforts to regularize the trade.
Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, along with Benn and Lall, was also present at the meeting, Todd said. “The president told us that he didn’t want to displace us or put us out of a way to make a living and that we would be allowed to sell at the market area again but that our vending would be regularized,” he noted.
On Saturday and Sunday, the man further explained, vendors met with Benn and Lall and the matter was discussed extensively. It was decided that vendors would be allowed to sell just behind the area where the hire cars are usually assembled on the western side of Demico House. By the time the second meeting ended on Sunday, Todd said, officials said it was too late for them to decide space allotments and that this would be done on Monday.
Officials along with a number of vendors returned to the location on Monday morning and a yellow line was painted on to the tarmac, marking the area within which vendors were allowed to set up their stalls. Todd said that 31 vendors were placed in a line behind the hire car park.
These vendors, according to him, returned to business as per normal on Tuesday morning. However, some time after 2.30pm yesterday, vendors were told by a police officer that they were operating illegally and would have to move immediately. “After we were told this I went over the Commander (George) Vyphuis, who was in the parking lot opposite here and asked him why we had to move. He told me that we were operating illegally. So I asked him that since we had to pack up our stalls at 6pm and it was already after 2pm, if we could sell out the few hours and he agreed,” Todd related.
This morning, Todd said, vendors will be going to the Ministry of Public Works to discuss this matter with Benn. “Come rain, sun or dew someone gotta make me vend back here again,” the man said, adding that, “I don’t know what kind of nonsense is this. The president say one thing and the ministers do something else and now the minister say one thing and the police doing something else.”
No stability
A vendor, who declined to have her name published, said since the start of the New Year she has had no stability in her life. Within the last week, the woman pointed out, she had been moved from her vending spot twice and this is most unsettling. “Is like dem can’t make up dem mind what to do with we,” the upset woman said. “First dem come and tell we that we can’t sell over de street and then dem move we and put we on de other side of de same street and now dem got de police telling we that we ain’t legal here when is de government put we here…right now is a set a frustration in me head!”
Yonette Anthony, another affected vendor, said that she too has had little stability in her life since the beginning of the year and even less since the explosion last week. The woman, like many others over the last few days, said that vendors too have bills to pay, children to take care of and other commitments to meet.
Another vendor, Annalisa Lakhan, told Stabroek News that it was around 2.30pm yesterday that a policeman went walking along the line of vendors and told them that they were operating illegally and would have to pack up their stalls immediately. “I know we was told to sell here by the minister and the president and I ain’t understand how the police coming and move we now,” the woman said.
Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Michael Carrington was present at the scene just before 3pm. He spoke with some of the vendors and encouraged them to seek a peaceful solution and to fight in a proper manner for their rights. He also said that the AFC would be more than willing to support them in any proper course of action they decided to take.
Meanwhile, demolition works initiated in the fallout of the explosion were winding down yesterday. When Stabroek News visited the area just before 3pm yesterday, some state workers were seen clearing up bits of debris left over from the extensive demolition works which were carried out around the Stabroek Market area since last Thursday. The exercise resulted in several permanent business structures in that area being torn down.
On Tuesday workers bulldozed two sanitary facilities which vendors frequented. However, it was observed yesterday afternoon that temporary facilities had been erected to the side of the police outpost, which was installed after the explosion.
