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Anna Regina vendors protest 14% hike in stall rentals

Feb 08, 2011 News

Irate vendors are questioning the implementation of the decision, taken by councillors of the Anna Regina Town Council, to increase stall rentals by 14 per cent.
Vendors who said that the rate is retroactive to last Saturday are also contending that they were not formally informed by the market clerk as to the new increased interest rate, have firmly opined that the new decision, implemented by the council is wrong and it has not been a decision permeated by the executive body of the Local Government for vendors’ body.
Speaking to Kaieteur News, Central Executive member and chairman of the Anna Regina municipal market, Mr. Hakeem Khan, is contending that the 2011 budget that is supposed to be passed by the Minister of Local Government, has not been approved by the central executive.
Khan stressed that “the new decision is blatantly illegal and in contravention of the municipal District Council Act”. He added that the market by-laws strictly say that if a person is in arrears, the clerk has the responsibility to retrieve a vendor’s goods for the value.
One vendor was surprised by the new increase. She had visited the office of the Clerk of Market on Saturday to make payment for rentals for her stall for December 2010 and January, 2011.
Mark M    c Lean, another vendor, wrote to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, on January 19, 2011, stating that vendors occupying spots in the Anna Regina Market had raised critical issues and to date none of those issues have been engage by the relevant body.
“We the vendors are aware that the council is upping the interest rates, as a means of further pressuring the vendors.”
Mc Lean said that security, lighting, water, external drains, maintenance of the stalls, flooding, and the issue of roadside vending are critical issues that continue to be neglected by the council.
Mc Lean, who has been vending for the past 10 years, further explained that because of the foregoing issues, some of the most affected vendors had resorted to withholding rent payment to get the attention of the council to no avail. Instead, vendors were threatened with court action.
The market vendors said they are not taking the new issue lightly. They are contemplating a massive protest against the council. When Kaieteur News approached the market clerk for a comment on the matter about the new increase interest rate, the officer declined to comment.
Some vendors are paying between $20,000 and $30,000 a month for rentals.

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