Across political administrations in Guyana there have been persistent concerns about the physical conditions that obtain at our municipal markets which, in instances, are well-known to be downright deplorable even hazardous to health. The conditions of our urban municipal markets, it has to be said, has been, for generations, a black mark on both the municipal authorities and the central government. The mindfulness is that some of these markets, having long descended to the level of serious health hazards which, in some instances – and here we unhesitatingly place the Stabroek and Bourda Markets on our list – can only be upgraded through costly physical and phyto-sanitary upgrading.
President Irfaan Ali’s recent undertaking to provide “improved security infrastructure” for Bourda Market vendors ought to be immediately extended to the various other coastal markets, in the first instance. Here one needs to set aside the “negligence by the opposition-controlled Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC)” remark contained in the disclosure on President Ali’s offer and focus with a certain alacrity on affording vendors and shoppers alike with a more convivial environment in which to trade. While the President’s reported offer derived from what is described as “an impromptu walkabout” in Bourda Market during which “vendors whined about the lack of security in the area, leading to instances of robberies and other malpractices,” one would hope that this intervention by the state would extend beyond issues of “security” and into the matter of the overall conviviality of the various markets as trading spaces.
Truth be told, it has been the vendors and shoppers who, over time, have been the victims of what has been an ugly – sometimes even quite laughable ‘political’ standoff between central government and the municipal authorities, the price that shoppers and hard-working vendors alike have to pay never seeming to enter the consciousness of central government. Put differently, the political ‘sword-fencing’ that has, over several years, ensued between City Hall and Central Government, over one issue or another, amounts to an enormous injustice to the citizenry, as a whole, since neither side has, over time, shown any interest in an initiative that leaves ‘one-upmanship’ to one side.
President Ali’s intervention would appear to focus primarily on “criminal activities… in the wee hours… being perpetuated by motorcycle bandits… ” Leaving aside “the cries to the City Council” remark made in the media report on the President’s intervention, it would be a thoroughly worthwhile venture if the envisaged nocturnal policing exercise could be a joint one, involving both the Constabulary and the GPF, even though this, in all likelihood, will take some measure of ‘sitting down together’ between the GPF and the Constabulary. To go further, the undertakings on President Ali’s side, including the one that has to do with “erecting a containerized police outpost to monitor the activities around the market” should occur in collaboration with the Municipality, more particularly the Constabulary, since such a move could well pave the way for an enhanced relationship between the Guyana Police Force and City Hall.
In the particular matter of tasking the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development with “examining ways to improve the infrastructure of the iconic market square, to ensure vendors work in a clean and comfortable environment,” here again, one feels that it would be a good thing if such an undertaking were to embrace the municipality as well as institutions versed in the creative and restorative work that would render the environment both pleasing to the eye and suitably accommodating of safe and convivial trading spaces.
Regrettably, the official release on the President’s walkabout at Bourda Market provides no indication that the political administration is prepared to ‘hold hands’ with City Hall on this undertaking. This is unfortunate since President Ali will surely know that a collective undertaking on a project of this magnitude, coming off of an intervention made by him, ought to do his presidential credentials a generous measure of good.
