One of the more forgettable memories of our annual Mashramani celebrations is the utterly deplorable state in which the streets, walkways, and canals are left once the revellers have come and gone.
The volume of garbage of every conceivable kind associated with that type of revellery is utterly amazing. Invariably, we must wake up the next day to witness the mess since the Georgetown City Council whose job it is to clean up after the revellers usually takes its own sweet time to do so. This year, the float parade takes place on Sunday and the next day is a public holiday so we must hope that the after Mash cleanup is not left for Tuesday, the first working day of the new week.
From time to time issues relating to whether or not the municipality can afford the post-Mash cleanup bill arises even though it is apposite to wonder whether City Hall’s takings from vending charges should not be allocated to that purpose.
During a conversation with Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green last week she confirmed that that was indeed the purpose for which the vending charges were instituted. Except that this time around and, according to Deputy Mayor Chase-Green, without the consent of the Council, Town Clerk Carol Sooba has unilaterally increased the vending fees to a level that may be beyond the reach of many of the vendors. Indeed, it has been confirmed that Banks DIH Ltd has decided that it will opt out of putting its own stalls on the road and simply change its model of marketing its beverages on Mash Day.
The imposition of the jacked up vending charges reflect the dilemma of a municipality that has lost its ability to collect much of the monies due to it legitimately and must therefore find other means of raising funds. Indeed, the Deputy Mayor herself made the point to this newspaper that the vending fees are intended to cover costs associated with the cleanup and nothing more and that the upping the fees beyond those costs amounted to ‘gouging’ the vendors.
The point to be made here is that the market for ‘drinks and eats’ which Mash Day offers is a one-off opportunity that provides a windfall for vendors of one sort or another many of whom invest what, for them, are significant sums of money in order to make a profit that probably goes in to some other venture. The Town Clerk knows only too well that the increased vending rates will probably not cause most of the vendors to miss the Mash Day opportunity. But if what the Deputy Mayor says is true and the higher vending charges exceed the cost of the post-Mash cleanup then her view that the hike is, at the very least an act of insensitivity and at worst one that carries with it a measure of exploitation, has some merit.
What this newspaper finds altogether unacceptable is – according to what the Deputy Mayor told us – that as the municipality’s Chief Executive Officer Town Clerk Sooba apparently has the authority to institute these kinds of edicts without any fear of query from the elected Council. If that is true it is objectionable.
