WESTORELAND, Jamaica – Smiles, laughter and a sigh of relief were some of the reactions from vendors at the Savanna-la-Mar Market on Great George Street as they watched the market roof being repaired by the Westmoreland Police and other stakeholders.

The repair took place on Sunday, in the full view of vendors who looked on in amusement.

“It well overdue and I’m happy to see the market roof fixed,” a grateful market vendor, Kadian Ricketts, told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Ricketts said she inherited her mother’s business and has been at the market for three years, and she believes teamwork is needed for the vendors to relocate to the market.

“Everybody need to work together to make things work,” a concerned Ricketts pleaded as she cut her stalk of escallion.

For the past three weeks, the Westmoreland Police and the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) have been carrying out the so-called Public Order Reset to regain control of the town and tackle the issue of congestion caused by unruly taxi operators and some vendors who refuse to ply their trade in the market,.

In a quest to restore public order and bring relief to the concerned vendors, who had staged a demonstration over the leaking roof and poorly maintained market, Commanding Officer for Westmoreland, Senior Superintendent Wayne Josephs announced at Thursday’s sitting of the Monthly WMC meeting that the law enforcers will undertake the project of fixing the market roof.

“I [we] ave decided to fix the market,” the senior lawman revealed.

On Sunday, Josephs and his officers did just that and were out in their numbers, along with members of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce, members of the WMC and labourers honouring their promise to the vendors.

“Mi give God thanks,” Enid Jackson shouted as she pointed at the newly repaired roof.

Jackson, whose produce, she said, would often get damaged by rain, was overjoyed to know that that will be a thing of the past.

“Mi give God thanks and praise. Even over here mi couldn’t put up nutten, [when] rain a come yuh haffi micase cover up,” a relieved Jackson told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Another market vendor, who identified herself as “Kay”, lauded the police for undertaking such an initiative, one she described as a “good move”.

“They’re [the police] doing a very good job. I saw them coming here daily looking at the market,” she said.

Meanwhile, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce, Moses Chybar Snr, who decided to also join force with the police, said the commerce has always been advocating for the renovation of the market.

However, Chybar added that funding was always an issue along with getting the relevant authorities together.

He too lauded SSP Josephs for spearheading the initiative, and commended other stakeholders who made the project a success.

“I must commend the SSP, because he really pushed for the start even before the promises were made by the government,” he reasoned.

SSP Josephs stressed that the initiative has been bearing fruits.

“It is something that is working,” he told OBSERVER ONLINE.

The senior lawman is hoping that other commanding officers will replicate the initiative. He also gave credit to Senior Superintendent Vernon Ellis, who is in charge of the St James division, for his Operation Restore Paradise initiative in St James, from which he got the idea.