Court order prohibits vending-related activities on pavement, streets around Muneshwer’s

Last Updated on Monday, 29 January 2024, 21:39 by Denis Chabrol

For the first time in decades pedestrians walked unimpeded on the pavement outside Muneshwer’s Limited on Water Street, Georgetown.

Town Clerk of Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, Candace Nelson Monday night said a High Court Order blocks sellers from engaging in vending activities on the pavement or the roads just outside Muneshwer’s Limited on Water Street opposite Bounty Supermarket.

She said City Mayor, Alfred Mentore was to  tell the vendors that they could sell on the roads. “The Court order is very clear on vending around this property. If the Mayor advised the vendors that they can sell on the road then he was wrong and his advice was against the Order of the Court,” she told Demerara Waves Online News.

Ms Nelson insisted that the vendors would have to clear the area in keeping with the High Court order that was issued last November in favour of Muneshwer’s Limited. “They will have to be removed from the road, otherwise, we’re in breach of the court order,” she said.  The Town Clerk said the City Constabulary would return on Tuesday if the vendors return.

Earlier Monday, Mayor Mentore admitted that he informed the vendors that they could vend on the roads just outside Muneshwer’s pending the City Council deciding on its next step especially since other businesses were poised to obtain High Court orders against vending outside their premises. He said the Council was also contemplating times of the day vendors would be allowed to sell.

Many vendors on Monday vented their anger at the City’s decision makers for last week telling them that they could sell on the road and remove their stalls at the end of the day , but the City Police informed them that they could not ply their trade there.

When asked Monday night why it was not made explicitly known to the vendors that the court order prohibits use of the streets, the Mayor did not reply.

The High Court order by Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire,  seen by Demerara Waves Online News,  states clearly that the City Engineer is directed to enforce the city-bylaw by removing anything whatsoever left, placed or stored such as to encumber the pavement or pavements and street or streets situated around Muneshwer’s property situated at Lots 9-10 Water, Commerce and Longden Streets.

Vendors earlier Monday decried the mixed decisions by the City Council and said they would resist any attempt to prevent them from earning to take care of their children.

Representing the company were Attorneys-at-Law K.A. Juman Yassin and Teni Housty.