BARVEN challenges stall allocation

President of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN) Alistair Alexander is concerned about the fairness and transparency involved in the allocation of stall spaces at the New Fairchild Street Market Village.

Alexander complained to Barbados TODAY that he contacted authorities several months ago regarding 31-year-old Nialle Johnson not being allocated a food stall although he has been paying for a stall in the old market since 2012, and had been given the assurance at that time that the young man would be given his due.

However, Alexander said since then, he has been informed by Manager of Markets with the Ministry of Agriculture, Sherlock King, that Johnson will not be allocated a food stall, but will be given a space to conduct another type of business. Alexander said he understands that all the stalls have been allocated and vendors are expected to begin relocating soon.

Alexander said: “This is madness. If he has a relationship with the market as a food vendor, they just can’t decide then to allocate him a space to do other business. They are telling me what type of business he does and it is not food vending, although he was allocated a space in this old market for food and I can carry you to the exact stall and show you it is a stall built by the market for food.”

Meanwhile, Johnson, who cried out at the unfair treatment meted out to him, said since 2012 he has been paying rent for the food stall, but two years ago he was told to stop and was given the excuse that “the place isn’t good enough for me to be paying rent for”. He said he feels as though he was asked to stop paying rent for the food stall because it was given to another person.

Johnson said he has already bought new cooking equipment for a food stall which cannot be used in the space he has been allocated at the new location.

“I can’t get this here understand. All I could do is to try to fight the best way that I could to try to get what is rightfully mine. I have been paying for the food stall since 2012 and all of a sudden two years ago I was stopped without any explanation,” he said.

The association president said that he wrote to King outlining his concerns about BARVEN being left out of the allocation of stalls at the new market to ensure that the process is fair and transparent.

He said King responded to him indicating that the process of allocation had not been completed, and noted that there were some inhouse matters that Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir wanted addressed including the issue of subletting. Alexander said King also gave him the assurance that once decisions were made regarding the allocation of stalls, BARVEN would have sight of the list for the food stalls.

Alexander said: “I am concerned. BARVEN has done all it could to have transparency in these processes and they went ahead with this and left us out. Up to this day they haven’t met with me concerning the allocation of these stalls and it has already been completed and now we have to try to deal with Johnson’s case and others we are hearing about.”

Also questioning how the allocation of stalls was done is food stall operator Subrina King who said she feels as though she has been victimized. She said although she has been paying rent for a stall for over 20 years, she has been given a smaller space not as well positioned as newer stall owners who have been allocated bigger spaces.

King has asked for authorities to provide information regarding the criteria used for the allocation of spaces, noting that she needs to understand why vendors who came to the market after it had been condemned are getting a better deal.

“I was surprised when I saw today [November 3] that this is the stall they have given me. It is smaller than the others. By being such a good tenant and doing the right things, including not subletting, I expected that they would do right by me. I was not expecting this when I came today and realize this is what I have been given.

“I prepare my food on the premises and I don’t even think that this has an extractor. There are people who had smaller spaces out there than I had and are getting a larger facility in close proximity despite breaching the lease agreement.”

Barbados TODAY’s efforts to contact Minister Weir and the Manager of Markets to comment on the matter proved futile. (AH)