The October 25 issue of the Stabroek News published a letter written by the Guyana Trades Union Congress’ (GTUC) General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis, following his meeting with the labour movement, the substance of which had to do with the idea of utilizing a section of the Critchlow Labour College’s campus to provide a limited market facility for a number of vendors and would-be vendors whose trading pursuits were being affected by the encumbering nature of street vending.
Street vending in Georgetown, these days, manifests itself in the occupancy of every conceivable space by vendors offering various types of goods to what, over time, has become a lucrative market. As it happens, the practice of street vending has become associated with what, all too frequently, is an unbearable level of urban chaos, over which neither the Georgetown Municipality nor the Guyana Police Force appears to have any meaningful level of control. From the street traders have become what, sometimes, is a vociferous argument of a right to work which, all too frequently, is not attended by the responsibilities that go with that right.
When the Stabroek News engaged the GTUC General Secretary on this matter a few weeks ago he made the point that in the extant circumstances the GTUC was likely to speak for enhanced job creation across the various disciplines. He added that where the matter of street vendors is concerned the GTUC may be inclined to support initiatives that make it easier for vendors to ply their respective trades in the capital. What Lewis conceded, however, is that current experiences that encourage urban street trading had to take into account what he described as “other considerations” though he asserted that “in the interest of working people” (as he put it) the matter of creating more urban trading spaces was an “important but complex” one. Here he alluded to the fact that Georgetown had already become “a prisoner” of crowded streets and pavements and that noises for the uncontrolled expansion of street trading was not the solution to the problem. That said, Lewis stated that it was not sufficient to “talk about” the idea “in a vacuum.” What was desired, he said, was to have an understanding arrived at between the government and the private sector that put viable options ‘on the table’ for the creation of trading spaces/opportunities for vendors.
Contextually, Lewis put to the Stabroek News the idea of utilizing what he described as “private spaces” for the staging of occasional public market spaces that would host limited numbers of vendors, periodically, to ply their trade in a controlled manner. Here, Lewis told the Stabroek News that he would be prepared to engage his colleagues at the GTUC on the matter of utilizing a section of the premises of the Critchlow Labour College for the staging of periodic “market days” under “strict rules” as he put it. Lewis went no further on the idea, however, alluding to his obligation to engage his colleagues on the matter though he did say that if such an idea were to be implemented, and even expanded to include other convivial spaces, it might be an excellent idea to seek the support of the various private sector institutions in contributing to a ‘joint exercise’ that would enable the creation of other appropriate spaces where limited ‘weekend markets’ might be held.
There can be no question than that the various challenges associated with the persistence of an impossibly encumbered downtown Georgetown – it is unsightly (to say the least) and unbecoming of a country presumably on the up and up – and that, between them, the state and the municipality have failed to address those challenges effectively. In the circumstances, Lewis’ idea is not a challenge that we can simply fold our hands and ignore. Ideas that might conceivably lead to a solution should not simply be allowed to come and go without being given their merited attention.
