Restore vendors' seized goods
Published:Tuesday | July 24, 2012 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
In keeping with our golden jubilee theme 'Restoration, Reconciliation and Recovery', I am appealing to Metropolitan Parks and Markets (MPM) to set this call in motion and restore to all our street vendors their confiscated goods.
Allow them to restore their means of making an honest living and their God-given right to work.
This call comes against the background of my friend, Ms Adonna, Wilson, who, as a senior citizen with dependents, was assisted in buying stock for her trolley for retail. This means of earning a living, although way below the minimum wage, puts food on the table for Ms Wilson and her household.
Family deprived
Only a few days after receiving this start-up financial assistance, Ms Wilson's trolley, with all of its goods, was confiscated, depriving her of her only means of income. Ms Wilson and her dependents, already living way below the poverty line, were pushed even further below subsistence level.
Mr Editor, in good conscience, for Ms Wilson's sake and that of many street sendors who are represented by her, I appeal to the MPM to practise the theme of our golden jubilee in extending mercy, compassion and charity to some of our most needy, disenfranchised, vulnerable and disadvantaged fellow Jamaicans.
This, in love and out of obedience to God, who instituted Jubilee, would bring tangible 'Restoration, Reconciliation and Recovery' to those in our midst who need it most, not only for this golden jubilee Independence, but for all time.
MAE FOSTER