Deputy Prime Minister Major St. Clair Leacock says the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration will not sacrifice Kingstown’s vendors in its drive to clean up the capital.
He said on Monday that the untidiness of the city and the trade of vending are two separate issues that must never be spoken of in the same breath.
“We must never, ever use the word vending, and the unsightliness and even the nastiness that we see around Kingstown, in the same breath,” said Leacock, who is also minister of national security, on New Times, the NDP’s radio programme.
“Because when we do that, there’s a tendency to associate vending with untidy appearances, and that is not true. Vendors are by nature people who are taking risks. They are entrepreneurs, business people in their own right.”
Leacock, who is also the parliamentary representative for Central Kingstown, where the capital is located, opened his remarks with what he called a disclaimer.
“I am a product of vending,” he said. “My mother and my father were vendors, and had they not been vendors, I would not be where I am today. So, I have to be consistent with my history and my reality. And if I’m not, then they’ll turn in the grave.”
Leacock addressed the issue on Monday after the Kingstown Town Board announced Wednesday that vending on two streets of the capital must end three days later, on Sept. 12.
The announcement took vendors and members of the public by surprise, given the short notice and the NDP administration’s policy, as Prime Minister Godwin Friday reiterated on March 6 — 100 days after the party came to office.
On Friday, the KTB announced via the same platform that the planned removal of vendors has been “stayed until further notice”.
A ‘win-win’ govt can deliver
The deputy prime minister was categorical that the cleanup itself is not negotiable. “Kingstown needs a cleanup,” he said.
The deputy PM said the government entered office on Nov. 27, “eyes wide open” on the appearance of the city and has already received presentations on improving it.
But he insisted the two objectives are compatible. “We need to have a comprehensive win-win approach to the vending situation in Kingstown, and we can have both of them,” he said.
“We can have a clean, ordered Kingstown, and yet be accommodating of those people who want to take business.”
Leacock said that the government was not afraid of political fallout that has historically attached to any move on vendors.
“We are not afraid to bite the bullet on tough political decisions,” he said, adding that the process “can’t be indefinite”.
Consultation first; warning against assuming govt knows best
Leacock repeatedly framed consultation as the guard against failure.
“The one serious mistake you can make in that regard would be to assume that we know it all, or we have all of the answers, and ignore the major stakeholders in this exercise,” he said.
He listed vendors alongside pedestrians, business houses and tourists as interested parties, adding that a significant meeting at the governmental level was scheduled for Tuesday.
Leacock suggested that the prime minister would appoint a task force or point person to work with the line ministry responsible and the Kingstown Town Board.
He was explicit that Prime Minister Friday would not pre-empt his line minister, saying the prime minister has “maximum respect for his line ministers” and would wait for a report before pronouncing.
Possible solutions
Leacock sketched several measures under consideration, stressing none was settled policy.
These include uniformed collapsible stalls, reviving an idea he credited to the late Maxwell “Maxim” James, who floated standard folding tables and stands in a single national colour, keeping food produce off the ground for sanitary reasons and packing away at day’s end.
“It’s not a carnival. So, everybody doesn’t come blue, pink, green, yellow, neon colours on a stall.”
Another idea was registration and licensing, adding, “Who sells and who doesn’t sell should be a registration process.”
The deputy PM said the government could also consider restricted trading days.
He raised whether vending needs to run seven days a week, five days, or be concentrated around a Friday–Saturday weekend market.
On cost recovery, Leacock suggested the expense of uniform stalls could be recouped through the small rental sums charged to vendors over time, while leaving open whether physical planning, the town board, or another party should bear the initial cost.
Leacock rejected propaganda he said was circulating that the prime minister has turned his back on vendors.
“Absolutely not true,” he said, endorsing a caller’s characterisation of Friday as a leader who believes vendors should be “accorded the dignity of the economic independence” their commerce has earned them.
“Let’s salute our vendors, let’s salute our farmers, let’s salute our small business people. Let’s work with them, because we are all major stakeholders in carrying St. Vincent and the Grenadines forward,” Leacock said.