Some vendors plying their trade along the roadside of the country’s Eastern coastline are feeling the pinch after having their stalls broken down.
Phyllis Morgan is one of the affected vendors whose stall, which she and her husband operate on the roadside, just outside their home in Stubbs, was destroyed on Thursday, February 29.
This was the day that delegates for the 8th meeting of the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean were scheduled to arrive.
According to Morgan, it was early morning – around 6 – and she said that she was still asleep when she was awakened by her daughter who had informed her that some people were breaking down the structure from which she operated her business.
“So, I came outside and I start to tell the guys, I said I know you guys doing you all job, and I know you get sent out…but I say this is the height of stupidness,” Morgan told ANN.
She further said that she saw no reason why the structure should come down because it was located where the owner resides.
“The man have a wife and he have four kids; and to just come and destroy the man thing this morning just so?”
Morgan said that she and her husband never received any prior notice and that was what made her very upset.
She told ANN that when questioned, the team breaking down the structure said that were not police, but that they were working for the government and that they can build back the structure within 24 hours.
She therefore reasoned with them saying that since the government gave instructions to destroy the structure, then they should return in 24 hours and build it back.
“He can’t send nobody to break it down and then we have to build back,” she contended.
Building back will cost as they would need supplies, especially lumber.
Morgan, however, admitted that the team only took away any pieces of rotting, or damaged lumber and left the good ones behind.
And this was her family’s plight.
According to Morgan, she lost a significant amount of income because she and her husband were unable to conduct business.