Dear Editor,
The rehabilitation of the Anna Regina market is a good initiative by the Solid Waste Management Committee to get the roadside vendors off both streets, running from east to west going to Mainstay Lake. These vendors had become a traffic hazard during market days; some of them have permanent structures which is against the market by-laws.
As far as I can remember some of these vendors were plying their trade in the market, but when new vendors occupied the road shoulders selling and displaying their goods they denied businesses in the market from obtaining sales. These vendors were removed once from the streets by the Anna Regina Town Council in a daring exercise in 1998, but subsequently were given letters by high officials in the government to go back and occupy the streets, so they continued their vending.
The council had no option but to allow the vendors to ply their trade, making the streets where they sell an eyesore, with garbage littering the parapets and trenches, sometimes causing floods in the township. The council became handicapped with outside orders from above and couldn’t do anything to keep the township clean and tidy because it was overpowered by politics in its day-to-day functioning. This newly built tarmac will be another white elephant like the ones which were built for millions of dollars in the Charity and Supenaam markets.
The situation was compounded by bribery, so even more vendors occupied the streets and roadway. The situation has become out of hand and the traffic police who are placed there every Friday to direct the traffic are having a terrible time with the incoming and outgoing vehicles because of the congestion caused by the stalls on both sides of the narrow streets. Some years ago a young boy was killed by a lorry on the Bush Lot market road because of the same situation.
The newly appointed Town Clerk is trying her best, but she has to take orders from the political henchmen which is making her job difficult. I personally feel from my experience that the NDCs and the municipality need more autonomy to function more effectively in carrying out their duties. Sometimes the people who give them orders from above do not know anything about the local government laws. The only remedy for the NDCs and municipalities is to call local government elections as early as possible.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
