By Kenicia Francis
The owner of Sneaky Pete’s, a beach bar that was demolished in the dead of night on Monday , believes he is being targeted because of his political affiliation.
“One of the reasons I suspect for the way they’ve handled me is because I’m an active and vocal opponent of mal-governance. I am a verbal supporter of the UPP,” Peter Kelsick told Observer yesterday.
He also thinks he’s being mistreated because he highlights issues he believes the government should be more focused on.
As an example, he spoke about the condition of the road that leads to the beach where his bar once stood.
“On the left-hand side, when you get to the end, you can see the open foundation there is full of stagnant, green water. That is a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes,” he said.
“In this day and age when we’re so concerned about mosquito borne diseases, wouldn’t you think from a tourism standpoint that would have been addressed?”
Yesterday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne made a comment and post on Facebook insinuating that Kelsick has been lying and peddling misinformation regarding the situation.
After Kelsick’s bar was demolished, Browne stated that Kelsick “negotiated a settlement with Royalton valued 40 times the value of the plywood shack located on the public beach on which he was squatting”.
He also indicated that Kelsick was treated fairly and, “was forced to close it four years ago, leaving the derelict structure to further decay”.
However, Kelsick disputed the prime minister’s remarks saying: “Gaston Browne says it was some shack that has been locked up for the last four years. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I have been open during the tourism season for 20-plus years, and that statement can be verified by anybody who’s down on the beach. You don’t have to take it from me; talk to anybody on the beach,” he said.
He explained that his bar has been open exclusively during the tourism season.
“The bulk of our business comes from the cruise ship business that is active from October through April. We have a day off when there are no ships in, or if the weather is bad and the seas don’t allow us to operate. But anything short of that, I am down there,” he said.
He believes someone from Royalton Chic could have passed by his bar during the off season when it’s usually closed, leading them to conclude he has abandoned the property.
When asked about the offer the hotel made as compensation for the removal of his business, he said, “I was not given anything official. One of the people who was talking to me, I met him here and he put this offer to me which was not acceptable.
“They were running behind me, almost on a daily basis, to sign some document to indicate I was accepting the offer, but my pushback was continuous. It was word of mouth; they could have changed that at any time saying, ‘well I never had any discussion with this person’,” he continued.
Kelsick also claims he was never approached to produce any documentation proving he had permission to operate on the beach.
“I was never asked to produce anything. I had to go in my archives to prove that I had planning approval. What they were interested in was that I removed myself and accepted whatever offer they were making,” he said.
“There was no chance for negotiations, or discussions like maybe you can upgrade your place or whatever. Give us the chance, the smaller people, to upgrade. To raise our standards rather than pushing us down all the time.”
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for St John’s Rural West, Richard Lewis, condemned the Prime Minister’s failure to stop the demolition.
In a recent press release, Lewis said Browne should have withheld the authorisation for the demolition of Kelsick’s property until all reasonable efforts at negotiation, finding alternative approaches, or securing fair compensation were exhausted.
He suggests this is yet another instance where the Prime Minister has displayed a complete lack of concern for the plight of local entrepreneurs, at a time when unemployment and crime are steadily rising.
Lewis said now that the damage has been done, he is calling on the Prime Minister to immediately engage Kelsick and the property developer, and work to secure fair compensation for the demolished property.