The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) yesterday condemned the forced relocation of vendors from the Stabroek Market square, calling it both “anti-people” and “anti-poor.”
In a statement issued yesterday, the party said the justification for the removal of the vendors—cleaning up the city for the impending independence celebrations—is unpardonable and must be rejected by all fair-minded Guyanese.
“The vendors must be allowed to ply their trade and their earn living in an honest and law abiding manner, as they have been doing,” it said, while criticising the city council for acting “in collusion with” the David Granger-led administration and failing to consult consulting with vendors to find ways and means to ensure they can earn a decent and living wage.
Some 200 vendors are said to be affected by the removal from the square, which was carried out on Sunday as part of the ongoing clean-up ahead of the jubilee independence celebrations. City Hall yesterday said a temporary site to accommodate the vendors should be ready today.
The PPP statement further charged that by virtue of the action to remove vendors, the APNU+AFC-controlled city council has provoked a “potentially politically explosive situation” in the city.
“Operating in true military style, facilitated by civilian operatives, the APNU+AFC Government demonstrated their anti-people, anti-poor and elitist predisposition towards a social strata, which in the face of rising unemployment and increasing economic difficulties have chosen to eke out a living – a living that has placed them in a daily and nightly struggle to make end meets. At the same time the ‘rulers’ lord over them from their sumptuous places of abode,” it said. According to the PPP, vending around Stabroek Market was the subject of a court ruling, which stated that a compromise was struck that allowed the vendors to ply their trade from 6am to 6pm on a daily basis and their stalls would be removed at the end of the day. As a result, it said the City Council’s actions are in contempt of court.
“For the vendors the “good life” no longer beckons. On the contrary, it has evaporated before their very eyes,” it added.
