Where is our COVID relief money? ask MoBay craft vendors 

Albert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer 

WESTERN BUREAU:
Reeling from the economic crunch triggered by the COVID pandemic, dozens of vendors at the Old Forte Craft Market in Montego Bay, St James are demanding their share of the $22 million committed by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.  

The money was allocated from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) to assist craft traders, who have been impacted by the pandemic.

To receive this benefit, craft vendors needed to have taken the COVID-19 vaccine and possessed a valid Jamaica Tourist Board license.

According to Paulett Ricketts, one of several disgruntled craft vendors, 19 of the 150 vendors at the market received the grant.

“Harbour Street get, Success Market get, Ocho Rios get and all now, only 19 vendors from here got and we all signed up for the benefits,” Ricketts told The Gleaner.

She said she and her colleagues doubt they will ever get the $30,000 promised to each licensed and vaccinated craft vendor.

According to Ricketts, the TEF has informed that all the money has now been paid out.

Marilyn Falconer, president of the Old Forte Craft vendors Association told The Gleaner that almost all her members are vaccinated and have been licensed to operate tourism-related businesses. 

However, she said protracted negotiations with the St James Municipal Corporation over a new five-year rental agreement may have turned out to be an issue in their bid to qualify for the grant. 

“The names of the vendors were not sent over to the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) on time. They only got there in February," Falconer told The Gleaner by telephone Friday.

She said for craft vendors to get their new licenses, they needed two consecutive rent receipts, but many could not meet the requirement since they were unable to consistently pay the parish council rent amid the COVID crunch. 

Godfrey Dyer, chairman of TEF said the $22-million was spent among craft vendors who met the stipulated requirement at the time of the programme. 

"All the vendors who are licensed and vaccinated got it. We paid out a total of $22 million, it's a one-shot programme. It is finished," Dyer said. 

However, when told that the vendors claimed that they have their license, Dyer promised to revise the matter once they can show proof that at the time of the programme they had a license to carry out their trade and they were vaccinated.

One beneficiary, Ambrozine Mills is grateful to have received the grant.

"I am fully vaccinated, but my license is from back in 2019, before the place lockdown with COVID," she told vendors.

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