NASSAU, BAHAMAS — National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said a Bahamian, not Haitians, are responsible for the illegal deforestation that has cleared more than 500 acres of protected trees in Western New Providence.
He said transgressors have 14 days to stop their activities as authorities prepare to mount an aggressive operation in the area.
He also discussed the anticipated establishment of a new law enforcement agency, the Bahamas Wildlife Enforcement Network (BOWEN), which will enforce laws for natural resources throughout the country. The agency will initially be staffed with between 36 to 40 officers seconded from other agencies.
Munroe’s comments on Friday come after Lincoln Bain, in a series of videos, blamed Haitians for the clearing of trees and burning of coal in fields near Bacardi Road.
The minister and a number of other government and law enforcement officials visited and toured protected areas in southern New Providence before yesterday’s press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister where Munroe and others discussed the issues.
“The disadvantage and advantage of the police force intelligence and the defence force intelligence is that they act in a deliberate way. And so you have people jumping up just running off the cuff with some things that may be half-truths, quarter truths, one-third truths,” he said.
“Before the police man an operation, before the defence mans an operation they do reconnaissance, they get actual intelligence and they get to understand the exact nature of the problem is.
“Out at that site, the information coming to me and I don’t think it would be premature to state it is that the operation as it were is owned and driven by a Bahamian who has heavy equipment to clear lands, to move piles of charcoal and that he has in his employ indentured workers; is how they are described who are potential foreign nationals which is the immigration component.”
Munroe continued: “And so what we saw out there today isn’t a small-time operation. It’s an operation driven by somebody with land clearing equipment with the ability to hire and pay people to clear large parts of the forest. Our information, our intelligence is that it’s Bahamian owned and perhaps operated by foreign nationals as more or less indentured workers.
Munroe said there can be civil or criminal consequences for breaking environmental laws.
“If you do not voluntarily stop it, then we will stop you.”
“If you break the law to make money, the proceeds of your crime are subject to seizure and forfeiture,” he said.
“If you burn charcoal or protected plants the result product in my estimation is a proceed of crime. If you use heavy equipment to breach the law, that may be subject to seize and confiscation. This government is very serious. It does not concern us how long it’s been happening, it will stop now.”
Munroe said Royal Bahamas Defence Force Lt Commander Desiree Corneille heads the steering committee which comprises multiple agencies that are working to establish BOWEN.
Corneille said an early draft of legislation for BOWEN has been drafted and sent to the Ministry of National Security and the defence force’s legal team. The document will eventually be sent to the Law Reform Commission. No timeline was given for when the legislation will be brought to parliament.
Munroe said while the agency is being formalized, activities related to its operations will be conducted. He said the agency will be fashioned after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Unit, adding the government wants the agency to be “stood up” in six months and operational in 12 months.
Munroe went on a morning ride-along with law enforcement officials to the area formerly known as the Carmichael well fields.
He said issues included: “from persons previously homeless living in converted school buses and trailers on the property to persons illegally clearing and constructing structures without Ministry of Works approval on public land; allegations of people with private grants exceeding the extent of their grants; clearing land without proper permission in a pine forest; quarrying––in one pit we visited down at last eight feet or more––again without permission”.
