Vendors and the Municipal Corporation clash in May Pen
The municipal officers, the enforcers of the law that govern public spaces and sale of goods, have to battle with vendors daily due their unwillingness to follow the necessary procedures stipulated by the Clarendon Parish Council. The Clarendon Municipal Corporation is responsible for enforcing the laws laid out by local government authorities for the management of traffic, parks, garbage disposal and green spaces, according to the community service manager in May Pen.
The Municipal Officers have their job cut out for them as they have to be consistent in maintaining order on the streets with vendors who either sell food or clothes. In maintaining order, they have to ensure that anyone who does not have an authorised space in the market is sanctioned. This sanction includes the confiscation of the vendors’ goods. In order to recover their goods, the vendors are required to pay a fine to the Municipal Corporation. The price is dependent on how much load was confiscated.
Section 5 of the Town and Communities Act states that a complaint can be filed against anyone who exposes their goods in the town areas which are not designated for such activities by the people who are annoyed by their presence. In May Pen, people who are not supposed to be in the market area impede the traffic that drives through the market; hence, the municipal officers have to remove them.
This creates a constant back and forth between vendors and the municipal officers. This is a daily occurrence. People who do not have a rightful spot in the market or anywhere on the road have to always be on the lookout for the officers, especially on Saturdays. A municipal officer told the Jamaica Monitor, “If we allow vendors to do as they please the town will look like a market house, they will build up their stalls on the different business places. One vendor will always want to be in front of the other and therefore it will most likely lead to traffic congestion.”
The daily fee for a registered space in the market is $150. However, in order to secure a legitimate space in the market, there is an annual registration fee is $3000. A vendor stated that he did not always have the goods to sell so it did not make sense to pay for a spot in the market. Therefore, without a spot to sell his goods, he must always be on the look-out for the municipal officers. Omar Thomas, another vendor in the market said that he often sells in the market but only secures a spot at Christmas time. At other times, Thomas has to hide for the municipal officers. “Two time dem take weh me goods”, said Thomas and he had to pay a fee of $15,000 each time to get them back.
Another vendor said that when his goods were taken away, he could not find the money to buy them back. When he returned to the municipal corporation the officers told him that his goods were given to the May Pen Infirmary. “A so dem say, I don’t believe them, dem take it carry go a dem yard”, the vendor said sadly.
A municipal officer shared, “we don’t always take away their goods; sometimes we try educate them about the laws of the town”. The officer pointed out that the information sometimes fell on deaf ears and in their stubbornness they always return to the spot we warned them not to go.
