Dear Editor,

I remember the days of the mid-1970s when the erstwile Michael Manley preached self-reliance to Jamaicans: The concept of taking charge of your own destiny, creating your own employment, of growing what we eat, etc.

Years later, Seaga came and, in his own way, he too encouraged Jamaicans to take charge of their destinies to create their own employment. In fact, it was under the Seaga Administration that the concept of “informal commercial importer” gained traction, not only becoming a fixture in the sphere of local commerce, but the term also became a permanent part of our lexicon as it described a new group of Jamaicans under the banner of “tun yuh han mek fashion”.

It was an idea which time had come; born out of a disappearing economy which had its genesis in the austerity visited on the island during Manley’s social experiment. It was driven by the resulting IMF agreement and structural adjustment programmes, failed promises of “money jingling in poor people’s pockets” from similarly undelivered promises of onrushing foreign direct investments.

It was from this era that the spectre of the street vendor became commonplace in Jamaica as either political leader recognised the impossibility of the State being able to provide employment for the throng of Jamaicans leaving school. Through their different applications of the “wink and a nod” approaches, both the PNP and JLP turned blind eyes to street vending because they knew that they had failed the people in creating the kind of economic environment where employment opportunities would thrive.

It is against this background that one has to assess any effort (past or recent) by either PNP or JLP governments to remove vendors from the streets. Any meaningful assessment by either side will only realise the same conclusion; that successive administrations have failed Jamaicans. This is a discussion that we must all be willing to have when we look at the current efforts. How do you now say to a vendor after nearly 40 years of allowing them, “Yuh cyaan sell yah so!” and expect immediate compliance. Policy enforcement is important, but in the process, policy framers and their enforcers must find balance.

Informal vending has become a part of the fabric of Jamaican social life and brute force policy of enforcement only feeds resentment and is a breeding ground for crime.

Richard Hugh Blackford

Coral Springs, Florida

richardhblackford@gmail.com