Categorized | National News

Irate Straw Vendor Wants Audit

One New Providence straw vendor is calling on the government to conduct an internal audit of the Straw Market’s accounts department.

 

Sharon Carey, who has been a straw vendor since 2001, claims she has been locked out of her stall from March 29th of this year, for alleged back payments.

 

The only thing is, Carey said according to her records, her payment is up to date and she feels wrongly accused.

 

Since 2014, she said she has been having an issue with the accounts department for a similar incident, but she decided to drop the discrepancy and start anew.

 

However, four years later, Carey is finding herself back in a situation, this time even worse.

 

According to Carey, she tried to resolve the matter by taking what she felt were all the necessary steps to contact the relevant authorities, including email correspondence back and forth.

However, she said they would not take the time to review her receipts.

“They kept bringing up 2014, because they checked my receipts and found nothing wrong,” Carey said.

Ms. Carey made the first payment on December 15, 2011 and has kept her receipts until March 29, 2018.

The vendor said she compared the market’s history print out with her receipts and found that it was not adding up because according to her, the receipt records show that 24 payments made, were not accounted for in the Straw Market’s account history.

As far as I’m concerned, my account is up to date. They owe me, I don’t owe them, and my shop shouldn’t be closed,” she said.

 Ms. Carey said she also spoke to Minister of Works, Desmond Bannister, who said he was not dealing with any matters related to the straw market.

“I stopped him and asked him if I could speak to him for a few minutes, he gave me a minute,” she said.

“I introduced myself, he shook my hand, and I told him who I was.

“The moment I told him I was from the straw market, he said “I’m not dealing with any business of the straw market, you’ve got to go to the authorities of the straw market.

So, there it is, I have nobody to go to, to view my case.”

Ms. Carey said she is hoping that this reaches the relevant authorities because she said she is “powerless.”

They’re stealing my money, and I believe a lot of innocent people are being taken advantage of, I’m sure it’s not happening to only me one.

Every time you pay, you’re paying over again.

There’s nobody to go to. I can’t get a response from anyone.

“I’m asking someone to please have my account reviewed,because I need my shop open, they really inconvenienced my life, said the irate vendor.

Written by Jones Bahamas

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