One vendor gets kiosk back, another to get new spot as Gov’t expands Oistins Bay Garden
By Sheria Brathwaite
Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw staved off a court battle on Tuesday when she intervened in a dispute over the allocation of a kiosk at Oistins Bay Garden so that an evicted tenant could be allowed to carry on her late adopted mother’s business.
Two days after Monique Best was locked out of the kiosk by the National Conservation Commission (NCC), Bradshaw said the state agency would enter a new lease agreement with the vendor to continue operating Shirley’s Food Hut at the popular Christ Church facility.
The settlement was announced by Bradshaw during a press conference at the location, much to the satisfaction of Best, her attorney Ralph Thorne SC, and vendor Kemar Harris, who is also the chairman of the Oistins Bay Garden Inc., to whom the stall was to be reallocated.
“I have spoken with all of the parties, I’ve heard from NCC, I’ve spoken to the individual who would have been awarded the contract for the shop here and I have spoken with Monique and her legal representative, Senior Counsel Ralph Thorne. We have come to an agreement whereby we will regularise the tenancy for Monique Best, allowing her to return to the premises. She will obviously have to go in and fill out the paperwork and make sure that everything is in place,” Bradshaw said.
Best was evicted on Sunday, two days after Barbados TODAY broke the story that she and her lawyer were fighting an NCC notice to quit by August 31.
Thorne had indicated that although his client and constituent had been operating the business ever since her adopted mother Shirley Roberts died in June this year and had been given the blessing of the deceased’s biological children, she was being forced out of the kiosk for it to be given to Harris.
Supporting the move to allow Best to continue the family business, the acting prime minister said the establishment of kiosks along one of the island’s main attractions was intended to enfranchise ordinary people and help them build generational wealth through entrepreneurship.
“The intention of these types of projects . . . was to empower ordinary Barbadians . . . . It was not to simply operate as though we are running a commercial enterprise alone, but simply to allow people to have an opportunity to pass on these facilities as well and to encourage their families to get involved in the businesses so that if there’s interest, they could be considered as the next applicants for those particular facilities. That has not changed in terms of our position,” she said, although noting there was a process through which stall owners could share or pass on their leases to relatives.
“I think Monique accepts that perhaps in the process of grieving, filling out an application was the farthest thing from her mind and I think we have to accept that. But there is a process and I think going forward the lesson for NCC is certainly to make sure that we are able to have clear processes that people can understand, appreciate and follow.
“But we have to accept that this is not just commercial; this is about people and their livelihoods and their families that have made the sacrifice to operate in these types of facilities and for that, we [Government] owe it to them as well to reach out,” Bradshaw said.
Best’s adopted mother had operated the business for close to three decades and she had helped her throughout the years.
However, after Roberts’ death, Best was given notice in July that she had no legal right to run the business and that the kiosk had been allotted to Harris.
On Sunday, NCC workers, who were accompanied by lawmen, affixed a ‘No Trespassing’ sign on the food establishment and changed the locks.
Bradshaw disclosed that the Government would be building more kiosks in the area, one of which would be allocated to Harris.
However, she said the multiple vendors who were in arrears to the NCC had an obligation to settle their debts.
“Those tenants who are in arrears – because there are some both here and at the other facilities – also owe it to the NCC and to the Government to pay up the monies that are due. We do have some challenges at NCC with the collection of the rental money and I know that they’ve been aggressively trying to go after those persons.
“These facilities have to be maintained and people who have been given the opportunity to operate in them also have to appreciate that they have to make that contribution back,” the acting prime minister said.
Embracing his client, Thorne told the media that he was pleased that social justice prevailed in the matter.
“If the media had not publicised this, it may not have reached the stage of resolution . . . . The greatest guarantee that justice will be done is when it is done in public, when people are aware that the rights of others, the rights of their fellow men are at risk and we always depend on the media to publicise issues of social justice . . . . I thank you for exposing what we claim has been an injustice committed to this young lady,” he said.
“I want to thank the acting prime minister for the intervention, an intervention in defence of the issue of social justice. It is just that this lady be allowed to stay and I therefore express indebtedness to the Government for that,” he said after stressing that no rent was owed for the kiosk his client utilised.
Minister of Environment and National Beautification Adrian Forde said he was pleased that Best had stood up for what she believed in.
He added that in the future, the NCC would better explain the lease process to tenants.
During the press conference, Best said she was committed to carrying on her adopted mother’s legacy as she had a passion for entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, Harris said the situation led to “distortion” within the Oistins Bay Garden association but this was not unusual in family settings.
“If persons would have reached out, we could have probably had different circumstances where we could have all sat down together and come to an amicable decision and it would not have come to this state . . . . I humbly apologise for whatever this may have caused you and your family but likewise, equally, I believe the same hurt that you have, I actually hurt the same way because of the circumstances,” he told Best.
Harris reminded her that she was still part of the association and the two hugged it out.
Earlier in the day, the president of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs Alister Alexander met with Best and gave her his support.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
