NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Opposition is calling on the Davis administration to “move with a sense of urgency” to address the country’s immigration ‘crisis’ and the proliferation of shanty towns. Opposition leader Michael Pintard in a statement said “immediate action” is now needed in the wake of a Supreme Court decision to lift an injunction that barred their demolition.
“I note that the judge referenced that the issue is one of national importance,” Pintard said. “The FNM considered this to be a matter of national importance when it took steps to address the problem. We have lost valuable time and we are also sure that history will judge all the actions which derailed our efforts to address this challenge.
“On multiple levels the various unregulated developments violate Bahamian laws,” he continued. “For the most part these communities are built on government land with some built on private land (legally and illegally).”
Pintard noted that many Bahamians have petitioned and appealed to government officials over the years for land for entrepreneurial and residential purposes without success for decades.
Speaking of the unsanitary conditions present in unregulated communities, Pintard cited the contamination of the water table in North Andros as proof that the festering issue has caused widespread damage.
“The growing disillusionment that citizens have with government officials is their failure to hold systemic lawbreakers to account while law-abiding citizens face rising electricity costs with many compelled to pay or lose their power supply.
The Opposition leader added: “The government in partnership with private developers and contractors should collaborate in launching in earnest, a housing revolution across the Bahamas in order to meet decades-old huge housing demands among Bahamians. Persons with rental properties should be called upon to advertise vacancies they have in their inventory.”
Pintard urged the government to “act humanely” but “with a sense of urgency” to address the immigration issues impacting the country.
Prime Minister Philip Davis KC said last Friday that the government will begin the process to remove shanty towns after Supreme Court justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson discharged an injunction that previously barred the demolition of structures in Abaco and New Providence.
“What it means is it now allows us to employ the process to correct those issues within the shanty towns. There is a process for the removal of any erection of buildings and we intend to engage in those and then deal with those issues that impact us with respect to that,” Davis said yesterday when asked about the ruling.
Acknowledging that the issue was a “crucial matter of national importance,” Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson in a 70-page decision handed down Friday ruled that the original injunction instituted in 2018 covering the shanty towns is now discharged and that the government is no longer restrained from taking possession of or demolishing or otherwise “lawfully interfering with the applicants’ and other residents’ and occupiers’ enjoyment of land in “Shanty Towns” in New Providence or elsewhere in The Bahamas.”
The ruling read: “This includes the disconnection of any utilities in accordance with the relevant enabling legislation, in full conformity with the laws and usages of The Bahamas. Their actions should be humane and sensitive to the needs of this potentially vulnerable community and in full compliance with International Conventions such as the United Nations Convention on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“IACHR”) which recognizes the inherent dignity of equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”
The judicial review application had been filed by the non-profit organization Respect Our Homes and 177 residents of shanty towns.
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