LILLIPUT, St James – In clear defiance of a notice to quit the Grange beach which borders the Iberostar resort, president of the Lilliput Craft Market Association, Patsy McKenzie, and scores of vendors who hawk their wares there have resolved not to budge.

“We nah lef. Our craft market started off with 75 people and at the end of the day it is not like we are here to capture anywhere as what the prime minister said we are squatters and we come to capture. I don’t see ourselves as squatters. I see ourselves as the people who live in the community and we believe that we are entitled to inherit whatever we can inherit from the hotel,” McKenzie told the Observer West.

McKenzie’s stance will cause more diplomatic friction between Jamaica and Spain, whose ambassador has made it clear that the government has a duty to move the vendors so that the Spanish-owned hotel can conduct its business in peace.

But even though the government, through the St James Parish Council and the police, has carried out two demolition exercises in an attempt to remove the vendors on the beach, the vendors have returned. Their persistence was condemned in the strongest terms by Prime Minister Bruce Golding at the recent commissioning of the new US$8.5-million plant at the Jamaica Public Service Company facility in Bogue.

“The investors have complained to us that persons were unlawfully occupying the lands and were using the facility to do things they should not be doing and it is impacting negatively on the hotel’s operation… We have a duty to that hotel, they have invested in our country and they deserve to be allowed to do business free of encroachment,” he said.

However when the Observer West visited, McKenzie showed no understanding of the prime minister’s sentiment which was expressed within the context of the broader issue concerning the need to restore the rule of law as a precursor to economic viability for all.

“In every community where a hotel is located, there is a craft market. There is Wyndham, there is Sea Castle, and they have Sea Castle Market; Holiday Inn Hotel and you have Holiday Inn Market; you have Montego Bay… so many hotels in Montego Bay, you have Harbour Street Market so what about Ibero? What is it about Ibero that Lilliput people can’t inherit nothing?” she asked.

According to Montego Bay mayor Charles Sinclair, the vendors, who are in contravention of several laws – including the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act, the Beach Control Act, The Public Health Act, the National Solid Waste Management Act, and the Town and Country Planning Act – don’t have a valid legal point.

“I have a notice to quit from the owner, Cecil Graham. The police served it on each and every one of them…”

According to the notice, Graham, who the Observer West understands is currently overseas, gave the vendors notice to quit with immediate effect last year on September 4.

“…not having granted permission for any person to occupy or possess the land, Cecil Graham, being the registered proprietor, hereby gives you notice to quit and vacate the said land with immediate effect, failing which the said Cecile Graham will take any and all lawful and necessary steps to remove you from the said land without further notice to you…”

McKenzie appeared not to understand however.

“We all understand this is a private man land, it is not the Government land because we find out it is Mr Graham’s land. I contacted Mr Graham once and he said ‘I am not going to say you people can stay and I am not going to say you people should go, but I don’t see any problem here’. And he said he is going to come back and talk to us, but he did not come back,” she said.

Nevertheless, McKenzie said, the members are open to compromise, as long as they retain access to Iberostar’s guests.

“All I am pleading to the prime minister and asking him if he has a problem with us here – and as he said the hotel manager has put in a lot of money, we all understand – all we are pleading for is for a place where we can inherit whatever we supposed to inherit here. Locate us in Lilliput. We don’t want to go nowhere else. Iberostar is in Lilliput and that is where we want to stay – in Lilliput,” she said.

“We are living here. I have been living here for 29 years. I have got three kids and they are all born at Wagon Wheel and Iberostar is at Wagon Wheel, and we need to send our kids to school out of it,” McKenzie said.

In the meantime, Mayor Sinclair informed, a meeting is to be convened with all the stakeholders with a view to resolving the matter.

“The council has gone to great expense with two demolition exercises and yet we are back at square one. So a meeting is to be convened to address the issue… again,” he said.