TODAY MARKS the third deadline downtown Kingston vendors have been given to relocate to designated locations. The latest deadline came after last Monday's deadline which passed with hardly any vendors being relocated.
Following the failed deadline, members of the consultative committee, which is overseeing the relocation, blamed each other, in a typical pass-the-buck failure of decisive leadership.
The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) blamed the police for not enforcing the relocation notice, the vendors for being obstreperous, and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (CofC) which had requested that some vendors remain on two streets until after the Christmas season. We wonder how much leadership the Corporation itself has exerted.
Both the police and the Chamber have not accepted the blame. We shudder to think what might have transpired if forcible removal was attempted in an area of downtown Kingston so prone to violent upheaval. The apparent ambivalence of some members of the Chamber smacks of indecisiveness.
When to this mix a political note is added we are not surprised at the confusion that has arisen. Last Tuesday, 10 JLP Councillors, led by Tivoli Gardens Councillor Desmond McKenzie, walked out of the Council meeting because they disapproved of the appointments of two persons to the board of the KSAC Markets Company Limited, whom they considered PNP activists.
As a follow-up to the councillors' action, Mr. McKenzie said he would quit participating on the consultative committee until the JLP is satisfied that there are no political activists on the board which he said had been earlier agreed by the consultative committee.
The board has since been put on hold and the consultative committee has been further mandated to oversee the vendors' relocation - which Mr. McKenzie has since accepted.
The air of uncertainty persists, however, and may well be complicated by gun violence over the weekend; which may make today's deadline a non-event. In our view, the vendors themselves will have to be persuaded that it suits them to relocate.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
