Dear Editor,
The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) represented by Doctor Lauren Bancroft and team made an arrangement with the Guyana Market Vendors Union to meet at the Critchlow Labour College on Friday, March 27, 2020 at 11:00 hrs to engage the Union’s Executive and its area representatives for the Ministry’s continuing exercise to educate, sensitize and to give advice on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic facing Guyana.
The doctor made it very pellucid that they consider stallholders/vendors among others, very important stakeholders in our fight against the pandemic, since these small business personnel are in daily contact on a large scale with shoppers of diverse commodities.
What was very disturbing and distressing is that at the aforementioned meeting on Friday, March 27, 2020 other than the Ministry of Public Health delegation the only other persons present were yours truly and Mr. Bertrand Thorne (General Secretary ag.) so that one can only deduce that:
1. The other union executives and
area representatives do not attach
any importance to the magnitude
and destructive nature of
COVID-19;
2. They place more value in one
hour’s sale than to make them
selves available to meet with the
Medical Officials and to be
guided so that they may be able
to save their lives, the lives of
their families and by extension
the lives of the very consumers
that impact positively on their
daily sale of goods and services;
3. It is also evident that these
leaders are only interested in
situations or activities that they
think would benefit or affect
them personally;
The MOPH has taken the initiative to engage all major stakeholders after which they would be able disseminate the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) advisories to their families and others with whom they interact on a daily bases which may afford the government the choice of not following other countries that had no alternatives but to drastically reduce commercial activities or a total shut down of certain sectors.
The MOPH attaches such importance to stallholders\vendors that with the paucity of time available to them, they made the sacrifice to accommodate the Friday, March 27, 2020 meeting, it therefore behoves these union executives and area representatives to assure themselves that there is no conceivable alternative but to make themselves available for such and engagement.
That being said Doctor Bancroft and team are prepared to meet with us outside of their regular working hours tomorrow, Wednesday April, 1, 2020 at 18 hrs at an arranged venue.
Yours faithfully,
Eon Andrews
President
Guyana Market Vendors Union