St. George’s, Grenada, June 28th 2010: The New National Party is
deeply saddened to learn about the devastating fire which occurred last night at
the Grenville Vendors’ Market.
The leadership of the NNP
understands the difficulty that this incident has brought upon so many families
at this very difficult economic period in our country. We sincerely empathize
with all the vendors and persons who are adversely affected by this tragedy.
Words certainly cannot express the severe trauma and intense heartache that they
are going through at this time.
Many of these vendors have
numerous financial obligations in the face of today’s austere economic
challenges and their tremendous loss as a consequence of this destructive fire
will certainly compound their already difficult situations.
We further understand that many
of these vendors have recently purchased their supplies in preparation for the
upcoming Rainbow City Festival and Carnival. Many of them depend on these
festivals to earn an income thereby enabling them to prepare their children for
the upcoming school year.
For many years these
industrious persons would have used their creativity and entrepreneurial skills
to start little businesses which enabled them to take care of themselves and
their families.
The NNP has always encouraged
such initiatives and was on the verge of starting the Greater Grenville Project,
which would have included booths for these vendors, but this does not seem to be
one of the priorities of the almost two-year old NDC administration.
This project was supposed to
start in August2008, but like every other major project conceived by the N.N.P,
none has been given serious consideration hitherto because of the continued
politics of spite, hate and vindictiveness by the present administration.
We therefore call on the
Tillman Thomas Government to take immediate action by assisting these vendors
financially so that they can restock in time for the upcoming festive season and
continue to take care of their families and loved ones.
