Police, Auction Vendors Face-Off

Some street vendors at the corner of Benson & Mechlin Streets in Monrovia

Police in Monrovia have continued to come down hard on street vending, sometimes confiscating wares and arresting the vendors themselves. But these arrests and confiscations do not go without intense tussles between the officers and the sellers. The police are trying to maintain law and order (or should be) on the one hand, while the road-side vendors are jockeying (maneuvering in order to gain an advantage) for a living, a daily affair in which those doing the policing, seem to have the upper hand.  But the clash between the vendors and the police is only on the surface; competition amongst the vendors competing for consignment, customers and selling space, lies at the heart of the controversy.

Occupying strategic locations where their potential buyers pass through is very significant to these vendors.  Be they in fixed stalls or kiosks; semi-fixed stalls, like folding tables, collapsible stands, or wheeled pushcarts, displaying their merchandise in tubs, on cloth or plastic sheets; or be they mobile vendors who walk or bicycle through the streets as they sell, the significance of the selling space cannot be overemphasized.

No special demarcation is carried out along these streets for these vendors. In most cases, it becomes a first-come, first-serve scenario and the traders are often seen scuffling over prime locations along the streets. There are some who rotate among two or more locations, taking advantage of different types of clientele and different patterns of urban movement during the course of the day.

Young women and men at the corner of Mechlin and Benson Streets as well as those on Mechlin Street (between Broad and Ashmun Streets) are usually embroiled in fights over who gets what selling space. Everyone wants to be at the front for their wares to command the attention of potential buyers. One party claiming rights to a given selling space stands in face of resistance of another party to the same spot, and this stands out as one of the more contentious test these competitors face.

And, almost as an afterthought, we must not forget that the population of street vendors is increasing as it always has around this time of the year when, like the year-end Christmas season, ‘auction’ or (seasonal) vendors, also known as‘new-comers’ or ‘ghost sellers,’ who simply materialize on the scene out of thin air, seizing an opportunity to earn some easy income. Needless to say they help to increase the friction and acrimony (bad blood) between the regular vendors and the overworked and now-smarting police force with their more insidious (subtle, quiet) hit and run operations.

As I write, the city’s major business districts are all flooded with seasonal/auction sellers in an effort to make some quick cash ahead of the fast-approaching July, 26, Independence Day celebration. During these times, central Monrovia becomes a hotspot for street vendors selling everything from t-shirts to fresh fruit to souvenirs. And during such seasons, the police, too, assume a more rigid persona (front, façade) in ensuring that city ordinances are not violated. Catching sight of a police van is enough to send a group of vendors---women and men, young and old---running helter-skelter, forfeiting portions of their goods in the process of trying to secure them, all to the delight of the triumphant policemen. Some vendors are actually grabbed and fined for violations.

 Some street vendors have accused the police on several occasions of harassment. They have complained that they are being unfairly removed from their selling spaces after been compelled by unemployment to take solace in sidewalk trading as an alternative survival strategy.

And so when these hustlers are tired with the pushing and pulling between them and the police, they fight back – sometimes by hurling stones at police officers or physically engaging them. A classic example of this took place recently at the corner of Carey & Randall Streets. It took the police support unit and other riot personnel to put the matter to rest. At least 12 vendors were arrested during the melée and charged with “disorderly conduct and disturbing of public peace."

On October 1, 2009, former mayor Mary T. Broh implemented the revised Monrovia City Ordinance Number #1, originally established by the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) in 1975 to address public health, sanitation, and street vending.  It empowers the MCC to prevent marketers from selling at prohibited areas. The revision also sought to address issues that have accumulated in the capital over the last two decades such as scores of mountains of trash, as well as the erection of makeshift structures all over the City.

It may be recalled that President Sirleaf gave January 5, 2013 as the deadline for all illegal street sellers to leave the streets and go into the market areas. However, following an appeal from the marketers, this deadline was extended to January 15, 2013. But that deadline came and passed, the illegal street vendors remained unmoved.

But the police have not relented in their resolve to clear the streets of illegal sellers. Accordingly, they have stepped up their periodic raids on the vendors, enforcing the city ordinance that prohibits street vending.