SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — The Westmoreland Municipal Corporation is making yet another attempt to curb street vending, and Mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Bertel Moore has put on notice a politician who he says is undermining the effort.

“I hear that there are people, politicians in the parish, at present, who are telling people not to go in the market, [telling them] they must stay on the street,” Moore, who was elected councillor for the Negril Division on a People’s National Party ticket, revealed at last Thursday’s monthly meeting.

“I am warning that person that this is not the time for this,” he thundered.

When the Jamaica Observer asked Moore outside the meeting in the presence of other councillors, who was the politician in question, he said it was an independent candidate.

In response, Councillor Devon Thomas (People’s National Party, Savanna-la-mar Division) shouted out the name of Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Central George Wright. Wright was elected on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket but resigned after a scandal and is now an independent. Moore did not confirm or deny whether his comments were in fact aimed at Wright.

Wright has refuted the suggestion.

“I have never gone to any vendor to say they should not go into the market and I can challenge anyone on this. So for those who are spreading rumours that ‘a politician’ or George Wright went and told the vendors not to go in the market, I want to say they must stop from spreading propaganda and just speak the truth!” he said when asked for a reaction.

Wright continued: “The truth is that the market is not in a position to accommodate all those vendors. There were some repairs done on the mid-section of the market and I am sure that all those vendors on the road cannot hold in the middle section. As a matter of fact, the front market is in deplorable condition.”

He also raised concerns about safety issues at the facility.

“I strongly believe there is need for a police [post] in the market. Because even our mayor got robbed down there and I can recall about three or four weeks ago a vendor got shot and killed down there,” he told the Observer.

According to Wright, the municipal corporation is aware that the market needs a police presence and perimeter fencing.

“We must protect our people; not just the vendors but the customers. I am sure [Moore] would agree with me that there needs to be a police post in the market,” he said.

When the Observer spoke with vendors in the market on Thursday, they shared Wright’s concerns. Many spoke of feeling safer on the streets where there are CCTV cameras from business places. They see these as a deterrent to crime. Others spoke about deficiencies in the sanitary facilities.

“If you use the bathroom you have to wait for the [bucket] to fill to use it. No proper facility not in there,” said one vendor who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We want proper security. How much somebody dem kill inna the market and nothing nuh come out of it,” she added.

However, another vendor who gave her name as Claudette said she is happy with the improvements being made at the facility.

“Them a work good. Good job done in there,” she said, even though she made it clear it was still not enough to get her to give up her prized spot at the entrance to the mid-section of the market.

Meanwhile, Moore has set an end-of-month date for street vending to cease. In October 2022, there was an attempt, under the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Public Order Reset, to rein in the parish’s unruly taxi operators and street vendors. However, like now, there was pushback from vendors who complained that the market was in a deplorable condition.

On Thursday, Moore called for a collaborative approach by elected officials.

“We must work together to ensure that the town of Savanna-la-Mar is clean. There are certain things that the corporation must do and we expect our vendors to cooperate. Let us work together in order to have some semblance of order in the town of Savanna-la-Mar and in the parish of Westmoreland on a whole,” the mayor stressed.