KSAMC cracks down on street vending in downtown Kingston

By Halshane Burke  

 

 

The Kingston & St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) launched a major crackdown on street vending on Wednesday, clearing vendors from in front of Kingston Parish Church and along Upper King Street. 

 

Municipal police and environmental wardens, with support from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, carried out the operation to reclaim areas overrun with vendors. 

 

The municipality erected no-vending signs and deployed 15 environmental wardens to prevent vendors from returning. 

 

Mayor Andrew Swaby said the move is part of the KSAMC's push to enforce order and keep the streets clear of illegal vending, noting that the vendors had already been warned. 

 

"Persons might wonder why are we doing this. This is a situation [regarding] congestion. The members of the parish church should be able to go into the church. Even on Sundays, persons are selling here. And apart from that, just when people ply their wares, they would have left all the garbage in this area," he pointed out.

 

The mayor dismissed claims that the municipal corporation is stripping the vendors of their livelihoods.

 

"This is about public order and we are not fighting against vendors. What we are doing is we are trying to organise the vendors in a way that they can achieve more. Ninety per cent of the vendors who ply their wares here are members of the 65 Mall Arcade. What they do, they just simply put their stuff in there for storage. Every morning they come out and take out their stuff, ply their wares and go back in," Mr. Swaby explained.

 

The mayor said he is willing to engage with the vendors to ensure that areas cleared of vending remain that way. 

 

"We will have the necessary consultation with all the vendors in a particular area, bit by bit, to achieve what we really want to achieve. There is no doubt in my mind that there [are] mixed feelings. Some are okay with this and some are not okay. What is striking about it is that the ones that are not okay, when I was having the consultation at 24 Church Street, they did not turn up. I didn't get a chance to hear their views. But after, they would have come out and voiced their opinion. I am still willing to talk, but it cannot be a situation where they plan to come back to this area. What we are trying to do is to keep this area sterile of vendors," he said.