The vendors were moved for security reasons – Francis

The recent removal of vendors in Kingstown was for security reasons.

So says Senator Julian Francis, the minister with responsibility for urban development.

Francis was speaking at the opening ceremony of celebrations for the 122nd anniversary of the Kingstown Board when he said that he would never second guess the decisions made by the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of National Security on matters of national security.

Senator Julian Francis, the minister with responsibility for urban development

“They made moves to move some vendors. They have my 100 per cent support. I not going to second guess them. They have more inside information than I have and the decision was taken and done,” he said.

The senator also asked those present; “ Doesn’t the verandah under ACE look good? Hello? Does the ACE verandah look good?”

And Francis said that his ministry was making the necessary steps to clean up the streets of Kingstown and organise places for vendors to ply their trade without causing obstruction on the streets of the capital city.

In his speech, Francis made reference to four different areas that will be outfitted under a $1.7million project to house vendors.

He also urged other entities to extend their support to the Town Board, with one of those being the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.

“Too often in the past, the Town Board has requested assistance from the police to get certain things done and we did not get that support. I want to say that publicly. Many times in the past, management has complained to me, I’ve complained to the hierarchy of the police force,” Francis said.

He added: “The little security men that we have here at Town Board, can’t lock up nobody. They can’t physically remove anybody…they’re not trained in security. We need the back up and support of the police.”