The demolition debacle

Jan 11, 2011 Editorial

The administration has taken to removing the vendors, both fixed and itinerant from the vicinity of Stabroek Market in a move reminiscent of what was attempted in 2005 and again in 2007 when the nation prepared to host Cricket world Cup. On those occasions one challenge came from the vendors themselves who moved to the courts and secured permission to vend from six in the morning to six in the evening.
Of course, there was no enforcement of the court ruling so pretty soon the vendors extended their departure until they began selling throughout the night. Needless to say, the group of vendors increased so that when the government said that it was going to do road works in that area, the Works Ministry had problems in the initial stages.
Last week a grenade went off with deadly consequences for one man. Nineteen persons in the vicinity were injured, some of them seriously, to the extent that at least two may lose their vision in one eye. This must have been the catalyst for the massive demolition exercise that followed.
None of the permanent vendors expected such action because over time they had established relationships with the power company and Guyana Water Inc. These vendors had become fixtures. They provided a service to all who frequented the area. And when they established their permanence there was no effort to stop them. Herein lies the problem.
The city council seemed to have no problem with the permanent structures and so these remained for more than a decade. The bulldozers came unannounced. The vendors said that there was no notice to them. Indeed, some of these people had been at the location for so long that they could have applied for prescriptive rights had the property been anywhere else other than in a public thoroughfare.
On Monday, President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the vendors had been served notices over time. He said that each notice was met with one challenge or the other. Some of the permanent vendors actually moved to the courts.
What is worrying is the fact that the very vendors seemed to have failed to secure their presence based on the court ruling. They were the ones who were authorised to sell from dawn to dusk but they allowed newcomers to encroach on the privilege. These newcomers were the people who spent all night and probably forced the action that has seen just about everyone losing the chance to make a living.
The vendors who secured the court order said that they would shut shop at six in the evening. The newcomers would remain all night. Regardless of the breach, the authorities should have served notice on the other set of vendors. These might have been there illegally but the reality is that the actions of the authorities granted these vendors legality. The lack of enforcement is what made the illegality become legal.
It is this legality that allowed them to access Guyana Power and Light and Guyana Water Inc. further consolidating their right to operate in the vicinity of Stabroek Market. It is this that has allowed the vendors to express shock at the move to demolish their stands.
City Hall, too, seems not to be in favour of the demolition. This in itself tells a story of where the power lies. The mayorship has been rendered toothless. In any city the mayor is the powerhouse. The Georgetown municipality is a far cry. When the President summoned the displaced vendors the Mayor turned up for the meeting but the president refused him an audience and proceeded to reinforce the order of court granted in 2005.
What emerged is a tale of corruption. Some city council workers took money from the vendors, in Guyana parlance, under the table. City Hall itself took money from the vendors as a cleansing fee but which the vendors thought were stall fees. All that now mean nothing.
There is need for the government and the city council to exhibit a level of coordination. It is this apparent conflict that has given rise to some of the situations. It allowed the vendors to play one authority against the other at times.
What has emerged from this demolition is that the city council staff appears to be taking instructions from the powers that be, rather than from the mayorship. They have been the ones to paint the locations from which the vendors will operate. They are the ones who will have to enforce the new regulations and they say that they will.