Vendors’ record clearing too long in coming

A Government Senator believes it is a travesty that hundreds of black working-class people who were unjustly criminalized for vending are only now having their records cleared.

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Rudolph Greenidge said that it is especially tragic that these individuals, mostly women, have long passed and therefore are unable to relish the landmark decision.

“We have taken far too long to right this particular wrong. We must shoulder some of the blame,” he said during his contribution today to debate on the National Vending Bill, 2021.

“But I say Sir, that it is a pity that the amendment did not come at a time when the majority of those who were the victims would have been alive. Those who were so embarrassed. It is a pity that we wait ‘til poor granny has gone to her grave to tell me now it is expunged. It is a travesty because right-thinking Barbadians now know that there is value to each and every honest job,” he told his colleagues in the Upper House.

In his support of the Bill, Greenidge described it as a progressive and corrective piece of legislation. According to him, the most important aspect was Section 36 which makes provision for the expungement of the records of vendors charged with offences relating to vending.

That section reads: “The record of any sentence of a person convicted of an offence of selling or offering or exposing for sale of goods, wares or merchandise in a public place, on a street, a lane, an alley, a road, a highway, a beach, or within the curtilage of that person’s residence without a licence, permit or other similar document under any enactment shall be deemed to be expunged with effect from the commencement of this Act.”

Additionally, the former government minister made it clear that he was not in agreement with the abolishment of fees for vending. While he suggested that it should be a nominal cost, Greenidge believed that to do away with a charge to vend might create chaos.

“I don’t think it should be a profit-making fee for government. I think that the licence fee should not be prohibitive in any way but there should still be a regulatory regime in vending, because there has to be order in vending and I think that one of the ways of maintaining and ensuring that there is some control is to use the licensing method. Because there may come a time that you will want to cap the number of persons who are into vending. . . it may be overflowing on the streets, you never know. I agree that that should still be in place,” he said.

Greenidge reminded vendors that while the legislation is tilted heavily in their favour, there were certain responsibilities that they are to uphold. According to him, Barbados is not a free zone for vendors.

“We must not lose sight of the responsibilities of vendors. Yes, we may not want vending to be a crime but at the same time we do not want it to be entire chaos. Do not believe for a moment that vendors are now exempt or immune or relieved or excused from those laws which all Barbadians must still observe. . . . There are still certain responsibilities that you have to shoulder.

“Vendors have to realise they must still have a licence and that if they sell food they must still have a health certificate. Vendors must realise that Barbadians must have a walking space on the sidewalks, vendors must realise that they will not be allowed to block store fronts and that certain places will remain off limits for vendors; that the show windows of stores should be exposed for customers to see what the store owner is offering – there are still vending regulations and regimes that must still be adhered to. Vendors themselves must help in sending the message that Barbados is not disorganised,” Greenidge added. (KC)