Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall has defended the Public Works Ministry’s push to remove vendors occupying spaces outside of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
While admitting that the move is not a “popular” one, the AG said that someone has to undertake the difficult task of restoring order. He said that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is a toothless watchdog and would prefer to revel in the “nastiness” rather than establishing order.
He added that vendors are impeding the free flow of traffic, including emergency vehicles that enter and exit the health institution. Also, he noted that legitimate businesses have to deal daily with illegal vendors who block the entrances to their establishments. Even private residents, the AG said, are deprived of entering and exiting their buildings with ease.
Further, the AG lamented the pollution left behind by vendors on a daily basis. These eyesores, he said, do not portray an accurate representation of Guyanese to the thousands of foreigners and investors who come to Guyana.
He spoke about the empty discarded food boxes on the streets, persons imbibing on the roadways, and men urinating in the streets.
“Branded hotels are coming here. Investors are coming here in droves. You know what impression they get when they see the level of nastiness around this country. Do you ever think about that? What do they think of us as human beings? And we, rather than clean it, are fighting to keep it there.
So, we will have to take the bull by the horn. It may not be a popular thing, but somebody has got to do it. Somebody has to bell the cat, and if it is, that our government has to do it, then we’re going to do it in the most humane way. But the lawlessness cannot continue,” Nandlall said.
