Vendors cry foul after early-morning crackdown at Charles Gordon Market

WESTERN BUREAU:

Vendors at the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay are once again crying foul against the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) over the market’s conditions and accusations of unfair treatment by the municipal authorities, following the confiscation of several vendors’ carts and other items on Friday morning.

While members of the StJMC’s municipal police were busy hauling away carts, wooden pallets, and stalls, some vendors argued that they are being expected to ply their wares inside the facility which they say is unsanitary and unsafe for themselves and shoppers. They pointed to pieces of iron hanging from the market’s roof, which was extensively damaged by Hurricane Melissa, as well as unkempt bathrooms and clogged drains a few feet from where higglers sell various food items.

One vendor, Jodian Clarke, who reportedly lost $170,000 worth of goods during Friday morning’s operation, rubbished reports that vendors tried to set a municipal vehicle on fire during the incident.

“It was nothing like that. What must we take to catch the vehicle on fire? The only thing we did was that, the boards they took up to put in their truck, we had thrown the boards across the road, and the police said if we did not move them, they were going to lock us up,” said Clarke.

“This morning, at 4:30, my cart was tied down in the car park, and we saw the parish council (StJMC) truck come, and they took up the carts and put them in the truck. We asked if we must pay any fine to get back the carts, and they said ‘no fine’, and I said to them that this is injustice, because the market has no top, no bathroom, and all the toilets in there have on black paper,” the aggrieved Clarke continued.

NOT FIT FOR VENDING

Another vendor, Shameka Haynes, who allegedly lost $200,000 worth of goods in the operation, declared that the market is not fit for vending activity despite previous assurances to the contrary from Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon.

“They mayor said the market has been ready for us to go inside, but we don’t have any market. They took away my two carts with $200,000 worth of load that I did ‘trust’, and I was asking if I could get back the carts, but they said no, because the carts were tied down, but it’s not like we were selling on them,” said Haynes. “The market top is gone and the iron can even drop on the buyers who come and buy from us. The market is dirty and it needs to be cleaned up.”

But in a stern response, Vernon told The Gleaner that the higglers were notified of the StJMC’s plans to improve the Charles Gordon Market during a meeting on March 24, as part of efforts to enforce order in Montego Bay.

“When we had the meeting, it was agreed between the StJMC and the vendors that they will use the market while we improve the market. The reality is that it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to bring the market to a state that we would ideally want for it, but it cannot happen overnight,” said Vernon.

“The market is insured, and we should be getting some insurance money shortly, and once we get that money, we will be doing the roof first,” Vernon added. “We have confiscated goods, but not inside the market, and if you lose your goods, it means you are operating in contravention of the law. The market runs at a deficit of $50 million annually, not just because the utility services are expensive, but because vendors refuse to pay $500 per day to operate inside the market, or $1,500 per week to operate a shop.”

The issue of unsanitary conditions at the Charles Gordon Market, as well as vendors’ reported insistence on selling their goods outside the facility, have been points of contention for years.

In April 2025, it was reported that vendors would return to the facility by the second quarter of that financial year, with anticipated repair work to include upgrades to the bathroom, stalls, roofing, rewiring, painting, and upgrading of the market’s flooring.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com