Fringe nationalist group eyes legal fight over citizenship

Fringe nationalist group eyes legal fight over citizenship
Operation Sovereign Bahamas Founder Adrian Francis

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Operation Sovereign Bahamas Founder Adrian Francis said yesterday the group is seeking to take legal action against the government over the issuance of Bahamian citizenship.

The moves comes after the fringe nationalist group held a protest outside the Haitian Embassy on Shirley Street on Friday.

Francis said members delivered a letter to embassy officials, demanding cooperation with the Bahamian government to repatriate Haitian migrants.

“Our attorneys are also filing injunctions this week to block the signing of citizenship until a system is in place to show transparency,” Francis told Eyewitness News Online.

Speaking to group’s demonstration last week, Francis said they were protesting the number of permits the government has issued and the “constant rendering of citizenship without transparency”.

“We have been inundated with this challenge, but it seems as if for the most part, everybody wants to be slow to act, slow to respond,” he said.

“It just seems to me the government has no idea where to go with this.”

In the letter to the Haitian Embassy, the group said it was seeking , “a time-line negotiated with the government of The Bahamas to have illegal Haitians removed from The Bahamas,” and “a concerted joint effort between nations in the removal of shantytowns.”

The group requested that the embassy “speak to churches and church leaders regarding the harboring of Illegal and undocumented migrants” and “assist with the exposure of anyone involved with work permits and citizenship access by fraudulent means”.

The letter also called for “the complete removal of any staff involved in visa and marriage scandal from The Bahamas”, in the aftermath of a commission of inquiry into concerns of corruption at the Haitian embassy.

The latest demonstration came just a month after the group protested outside of the Kendal G. L. Issacs Gymnasium, calling on the government to evict hundreds of Hurricane Dorian victims living at the designated shelter.

Members of the group demonstrated in the rain, holding Bahamian flags and jeered at evacuees as they entered the shelter.

When asked about demonstration last month, Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson told Eyewitness News Online the group had every right to exercise their right to Freedom of Expression.

Haitian embassy officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be reached for comment up to press time.

Francis said yesterday the Bahamians will also see the group “step up” its mission when it comes to “illegal Chinese”.

“We have a meeting with the Justice Department of the United States in early next year and we are going to do what we can to try to see how we can solve the mess that’s happening having here in our country,” he added.

2 comments

EYE WITNESS NEWS WHY ARE YOU GUYS KEEP SAYING STRANGE FRINGE GROUP WHEN YALL KNOW IT IS NOT. THE BAHAMIANS ARE WELL AWARE OF THIS GROUP INCLUDING YOU YALL. THIS GROUP HAVE BEEN ON YOUR NEWS SHOW ALL THE RADIO SHOW THESE ARE BAHAMIANS THEY ARE NOT FOREIGNERS. WE LOVE OUR COUNTRY I PRAY YOU ALL DO. THE SELLING OUT OF CITIZENSHIPS, WORK PERMIT, FRAUDULENT DOCUMENT SELLING OUT OUR CITIZENS FOR CHEAP LABOR IS WRONG SOMEONE NEEDS TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ALL THE WRONG THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY WE THANK THIS GROUP THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT ARE SPEAKING OUT AGAINST CORRUPTION.

Pearline, you’re so right. You hit the nail on the head. There is nothing “fringe” about OSB. Thank you.

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