AMONG the more disheartening aspects of Jamaican social life is the constant squabbling involving illegal vendors and the authorities.

It’s not new. In fact, as far back as any Jamaican can remember, local authorities and vendors who prefer to occupy space on sidewalks and street sides have been at loggerheads from time to time.

It used to be that the problem was largely confined to Kingston, especially approaching Christmas.

In recent decades, such problems have popped up at rural towns all across Jamaica, all year round.

Yesterday’s Sunday Observer tells us that this tension between vendors and the St Catherine Parish Council is seriously affecting the Linstead Market, made famous generations ago by folk song and dance.

And, as is the case elsewhere, in Linstead there is tension not only between the authorities and vendors, but also between vendors themselves. Those who operate legally from within the market, paying their fees to do so, quite understandably feel cheated.

They are upset with those who remain on the outside, paying no fees while attracting customers who would have otherwise entered the market.

As is the case elsewhere, vendors operating illegally on the outside have their own grouses — not least that market and utility fees are too high.

The truth, though, is that as Jamaica evolves into a modern, efficient society, which should cater to the best interests of the people, the disorderly approach to vending has to stop.

Police, for example, constantly complain that sidewalk vending hinders motorised and pedestrian traffic, creating disorder, including the provision of cover and easy getaway for pickpockets and armed robbers.

And there is no question that illegal sidewalk vending is demoralising for legal operators and other business people who are required to pay fees and taxes.

A major problem is that many parish councils apparently lack the capacity and the will to properly administer markets and vending.

It’s no secret, for example, that in some towns, vendors feel empowered to take to the sidewalks and to breach vending regulations precisely because of the support of local politicians.

Whether the long-talked-about local government reform process will make a difference in the long run is a moot point.

But it seems to this newspaper that the police must be empowered to remove illegal vendors from the streets.

Obviously, adequate provision should be made to accommodate vendors in the markets. And the authorities should be held to account if that is not done.

However, when all is said and done, law and order must prevail.