Craft vendors: Where is our COVID-19 relief money?

WESTERN BUREAU:

Reeling from the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, more that 100 craft vendors at the Old Fort Craft Market in Montego Bay, St James, are seeking answers as to the whereabouts of their share of the $22 million committed to them by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.

The money was allocated from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) to assist craft traders who were impacted by the pandemic. To receive this benefit, craft vendors had to be licensed and vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to Paulette Ricketts, one of several disgruntled craft vendors, 19 of the 150 vendors at that craft market received their money.

“Harbour Street get, Success Market get, Ocho Rios get; and all now only 19 vendors from here got and we all sign up for the benefits,” she told The Gleaner. “We were the last to get, and yet the majority of us who are licensed have not yet gotten anything.”

Ricketts said she and other vendors are at a crossroads in relation to whether they will ever get the $30,000 promised to each licensed and vaccinated craft vendor.

She noted that instead of hearing when they are going to receive their money, they were told that all the money that was allocated has been paid out.

“Yesterday (March 31), we had a general meeting here and our president told us that TEF informed her that all the money is finished.

“But how the money finished and we don’t get paid yet; where is the money?” questioned the peeved craft vendor.

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

However, she said the other vendors, including the 19 from the Old Fort location, have drawn down on their allocation, and that a protracted negotiation over a new five-year contract with the St James Municipal Corporation could have led to them not benefiting from the one-off grant.

“The names of the vendors were not sent over to the Tourism Product Development Company on time. They only got there in February,” Falconer told The Gleaner on Friday. “To get our new licence, we would need to show two consecutive rent receipts, but many of us could not because we owe the parish council a lot of back rent.”

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 licence, Dyer promised to revisit the matter once they can show proof that at the time of the programme they had a licence to carry out their trade and they were vaccinated.

“Tell her to tell us which one was vaccinated and didn’t get it and we will take it up from there, but they have to show proof,” he warned.

“All the licensed vendors across the island, from Negril to Port Antonio, got their money, but the ones who are not licensed don’t get, that was a one-off assistance,” insisted Dyer.

While the craft vendors COVID 19 relief grant had qualifying criteria, Ambrozine Mills, one of those who benefited from the programme, said the last licence she had was for 2019 and she received her payment.

“I am fully vaccinated, but my licence is from back in 2019, before the place lock down with COVID,” she told vendors who were discussing the issue.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com