OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Food vendors in the St Ann’s Bay market district say they are losing sales as the unbearable stench from a week-old garbage dump is keeping customers away. Noting that the mound of smelly garbage, which is in close proximity to their stalls, is also a health hazard, they want the relevant authorities to address the issue.

“We need something to be done for us in the market that have our stalls and have to be suffering because of the garbage,” vendor Simone Clarke told the Jamaica Observer. “It is so very close to the stall where I’m at selling my food and people don’t stop to buy because they are saying how can they buy food from stalls that are basically in a rubbish heap.”

Clarke says she makes a priority to pay her $1,500 market fee daily, so she expects the best service.

“I don’t understand why we can’t get the service we deserve. It is very disgraceful for all of us. They say we are in corona [novel coronavirus] season but this rubbish here will get us sick and kill us faster than anything else,” said the obviously upset woman.

Florence Gabbidon, another disgruntled vendor who spoke of the importance of cleaning the dump daily, said failure to do so is disrespectful.

“They have to consider the public better because people will get sick. They must have some type of understanding of how they collect their garbage, whether it is in the night, or so on,” she told the Observer. “They don’t pay no attention to this area and give us any respect. Look at the garbage and look where we have to be selling. This is not healthy at all.”

Derron Gray said the situation was particularly irksome as it is the Yuletide season.

“Them need to handle the place better than this, man; we can’t take the scent and this is [creating a] bad reputation in the market and is Christmas season now,” he said.

Councillor for the St Ann’s Bay Division Dalas Dickenson (JLP) says he has made contact with the National Solid Waste Management (NSWMA) in the parish to have the issue rectified.

“They assured me that it will be cleaned by midday on Wednesday. Also for the rest of the week they will be doing garbage collection at nights instead of during the days,” he promised.