The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) has called on the government to ensure that due process, standard norms, and equitable treatment are the hallmark of their relationship with vendors who were ordered to remove from the Plaisance Railway Embankment.
Last Monday, over 20 vendors, who have been plying their trades for years on the Railway Embankment, were served with notices from the Ministry of Public Works instructing them to remove their structures within seven days.
The Ministry noted that the vendors’ removal would facilitate a four-lane road project from Sheriff Street to Haslington on the East Coast of Demerara.
However, IDPADA-G stated that there are concerns that many of the citizens who may be affected by this project have not been properly notified in a timely manner and or consulted, as should be the standard practice.
Moreover, the organisation posited that the affected vendors were not issued notices directly as the letters were stuck in their gates and elsewhere.
“This approach reeks of the past and is heading on a course that is even worse than the treatment of the families, farmers and business persons in Mocha-Arcadia,” IDPADA-G said.
The Afrocentric not-for-profit company added that it is concerned about a possible repeat of the Mocha Arcadia debacle and urges the government to take all necessary steps to avoid the untenable recurrence of that “injustice.”
“We, therefore, call on government to ensure that due process, standard norms, and humane, just, and equitable treatment be the hallmarks of their relationship with citizens and communities who will be affected by the road development project.
We call for immediate consultations with all relevant stakeholders and regulatory bodies.”
It is the organisation’s view that every citizen who might be affected by this project should be consulted, given ample official notice, and provided sufficient means and assistance for the continued pursuit of their livelihoods and enjoyment of homesteads and related activities.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Plaisance Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Rodwell Lewis, recently noted that it is heart-rending that the Ali-led administration would see it fit not to follow protocol bypassing the NDC to issue letters to their residents.
According to Lewis, if the removal of these vendors is to be carried out by the Ministry, persons who depend on their daily bread, especially single-parent mothers, would lose their only source of income.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said that the area the vendors are occupying is a government reserve and, as such, should be removed.
