MONTEGO BAY, St James — It is edging closer to the three-month deadline that was given to the operator of Jamrave Restaurant and Grocery, Dain Little to vacate the premises that temporarily houses his business at the Mount Salem Benevolent Society Community Development Committee’s (CDC) Resource Centre in this western city.

But the businessman told the Jamaica Observer that he has “pushed back” this deadline due to his new property being incomplete, among other reasons.

Little, who illegally operated his restaurant and grocery store on a sidewalk at the entrance to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, was slapped with an injunction in May, forcing its relocation. The business is now being housed at the resource centre, a property owned by the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC). No authorisation was given by the local authority.

The business is said to have been in operation since 1994.

“I started the restaurant in 2012, but the grocery business was started in 1994 when I was 14,” Little said.

According to Little, he was given the go-ahead to utilise the yard space at the resource centre after reaching out to Councillor Kerry Thomas (People’s National Party [PNP], Mount Salem Division) when he was slapped with the injunction. Though the councillor vouched for him to operate from the community centre until the end of December, the business operator stated that the “unique design” of his new property has caused a major setback.

“I spoke to the councillor, and he spoke to whosoever else he is supposed to talk to, and I got the okay for a certain amount of time…about three months. But the design is very unique and most of the things will have to be shipped,” said Little.

“The deadline was this month on the day of the Grand Market, but I have to push it back because I just got a big contract to supply a major company with food and that takes up a lot of my time and energy. Everything is going according as planned, but we just have a little setback because you know this time of the year when you ship in things it takes longer,” the businessman told the Sunday Observer.

Little stated that he believes he will be operating from the community centre until February of next year. He told the Sunday Observer that the big plans he has for the expansion of his business are also causing a delay in his exit from the Government-owned property.

“I am just going to push it to February. I am pretty sure that I will get everything that I need by then because of the equipment I have here now, I am going to set up a new location to use them. The design that I have for it [main business] is unique, so we will have some new equipment,” he said.

Referring to the legal battle between himself and the St James Municipal Corporation, which started in February 2017, Little told the Sunday Observer that he believes this “attack” is politically motivated. He revealed that he is a political activist for the PNP.

“I know the problem they have with me is that I am a political activist for the People’s National Party, and I would say that I am the main jagga bite in their back. That is why they are so disgusted by me,” he said.

He added, “I used to be an activist for the JLP and I switched. The grievance is because I switched and supported the PNP. It is not really about the business, it is about me.”

For his part, Councillor Thomas told the Sunday Observer that the decision made to house Jamrave Restaurant and Grocery at the community centre was an attempt to “save a business”.

“I supported that decision…because it is an existing business that assists the community with quite some employment, plus the people from the hospital find it useful daily,” Thomas said.

Though Little stated that he will not be vacating the property before next February, the councillor believes that the December deadline will be honoured.

“It was initially for three months, and they are in the process of preparing to leave. Based on my last discussion with everyone, they should be out before the end of December, which would have served the intended purpose to help temporarily,” said Thomas.

The councillor noted that the business has not hampered the operation of the community centre as it is located on the outside “under a tent in the yard”. He further defended the decision, which was made without consulting the municipal corporation, by stating that more can be done to assist business owners who are operating illegally.

“Like this business, there are many others across the country that were probably started on illegal lands or by acquiring places without permission, and people will do these things out of sheer ambition. I don’t think people do it out of a need to be wrong,” Thomas said.

“Sometimes we have to ask ourselves what incubatory process we have in place for people who have interests in businesses to assist them in finding a place and getting them set up. We encourage people to become entrepreneurs, we encourage the micro sector and the question is: How do we help to support that as government and local agencies?”

Thomas told the Sunday Observer that the current battle to have the business operator become compliant with the municipal corporation’s requirements can be viewed as a “success story”.

“It shows ways in which we can facilitate bridging that gap. When this process is all over, it could be one of those success stories where the community assisted somebody in transitioning and creating that bridge to bring them into something more positive,” the councillor said.

“We should not strive to just destroy but see how we can assist. We are civil servants, we have to work together to see how we can assist to change. At the end, that will be a successful process,” said Thomas.

The first-time councillor pointed out that this business has been in operation before he was elected to represent the division.

“This has been here long before my time. I came here and saw it as a big operation, so how was it started? I don’t know, but the reality is we see an issue in front of us and we are trying to see how best we can assist in transitioning that process,” he told the Sunday Observer.