Photo by Denise Reid
Vendors put their produce on carts and sell along St James Street in Montego Bay, St James yesterday afternoon.

The head of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce has placed on record his grave concerns about the high level of illegal vending that has become a blot on the Second City.

Chamber president Lloyd B. Smith raised the alarm yesterday, a day after a decision was taken by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) to suspend vending in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew.

He noted that, although two arcades were built to accommodate vendors in Montego Bay, St James some have refused to use them.

"I intend to speak to the mayor about it, especially as we are approaching the Christmas season," he told The Gleaner. "Now is the time to deal with it, before it gets out of hand."

But yesterday Montego Bay vendors cited lack of employment as one of the key factors forcing them to sell on the streets.

Vending, they said, was their only means of survival and many of them say their presence on the street does not obstruct anyone.

"If they can't find jobs to give us, what we to do more than hustle, because we not goin' tief," said Calray Thompson, a vendor who sells DVDs in front of a popular store on St James Street. "A nuff time me take up paper and say I goin' look work, cause I have three subjects and I can't get no work."

Some vendors suggested that solutions can be worked out, stating that the respective authorities can work in tandem with them.

Vendor Nagrey Braham said laws could be set up which would see vendors selling only on minor roads and then allowing them to sell on the main roads at night.

"It's better if they just give us the backroads and say we must keep the drains clean," he said. He admitted, however, that the vending did obstruct pedestrians and caused traffic congestion at times.

Business as usual

Meanwhile, despite KSAC's suspension of vending in Half-Way Tree, it was business as usual for scores of vendors in the busy St Andrew capital.

Some licensed vendors, with whom The Gleaner spoke yesterday, said they believe they are being sabotaged by Mayor of Kingston, Desmond McKenzie.

"I have my daughter a go UWI (the University of the West Indies) and my grandson a do him GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test)," one vendor remarked.

"If you not educated, you not going to make it in this country, so I have to take care of my children. I don't want them turn vendor like me," the woman added.

Others told The Gleaner that, if they are forced to move their stalls, they would have to take their trade elsewhere and face harassment from the police.

Dunstan Whittingham, president of the Jamaica Vendors, Higglers and Markets Association, said he would await the outcome of a meeting set for tomorrow to determine his next move.

He however assured he would not be intimidated by what he viewed as "bully tactics" by the mayor.

McKenzie said in a release on Thursday that collection of vending fees would be discontinued and all forms of vending considered illegal, pending a clean-up operation on October 1.

Among the issues of concern are unauthorised vending around the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre, increasing traffic problems, the building of a number of stalls, urinating in the town and cooking on the streets.

Yesterday McKenzie was unavailable for comments as he said he was in a meeting.

Meanwhile, Aldo Brown, president of the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce, told The Gleaner yesterday that vendors should only be moved from the streets, when proper facilities are made available for them.

Vendors, he said, have families to support and consideration should be given before relieving them of their livelihood.

Brown said the government had allowed illegal vending to get out of control and should now move to fix the problem in a manner that is beneficial to both parties.