Bulldozers roll into shantytown

Forty-five incomplete and unoccupied structures in The Farm shantytown in Treasure Cay, Abaco, were demolished yesterday, according to the Ministry of Public Works.

It said debris from the structure were being safely disposed.

“The government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas remains firm in its resolve to ensure that the health hazards and hazardous conditions that unregulated communities foster are dealt with decisively and effectively,” the ministry said in a statement.

Demolition in The Farm took place ahead of a judicial review hearing, which will resume on April 27.  Shantytown residents represented by Fred Smith, QC, are challenging the government’s policy to rid the country of shantytowns.

In 2018, the government announced that all shantytowns in The Bahamas will be demolished.

It subsequently gave residents of most shantytowns on New Providence until August 10, 2018, to leave before demolition.

Residents in shantytowns on Abaco were to be given until the end of July 2019 to leave.

However, in August 2018, Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson granted an injunction preventing the demolition of shantytowns.

In a statement yesterday, Smith, who also serves as legal director of Human Rights Bahamas, said the demolition was taking place “at the very moment when the fate of this community is before the courts and awaiting the judge’s ruling”.

“We are supposed to be a constitutional democracy that operates according to the rule of law,” he said.

“What is the point of having courts as a forum for settling disputes if the government is just willing to ignore the judicial process, proceed according to the formula that ‘might makes right’, and ruin people’s lives without lawful justification?

“Just because you have a bulldozer doesn’t mean you have to use it. The government of The Bahamas has hundreds of thousands of acres of vacant Crown land in Abaco.

“Why not sell a small portion of it to these suffering people who only want a home for their families? Why not make a virtue out of necessity, create a settlement and allow these people to build a meaningful future for their families especially as it has been confirmed that the majority of them are Bahamians?

“Just because they happen to be of Haitian descent does not give the government the right to trample their constitutional rights. They are human beings too.

“Human Rights Bahamas will continue to await the judge’s ruling.”

Yesterday, when asked by the media about the injunction, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works Desmond Bannister said, “The Building Control Department has drone footage of all of those buildings. They have marked those buildings appropriately. They know that for now, they cannot touch those buildings, so those buildings will remain in the state that they are.”

It was a reference to the shantytown structures that existed prior to the injunction.

Critical

The demolition was initially announced by Bannister during a communication in the House of Assembly on April 12.

In that communication, he noted that The Farm posed a challenge in that the unregulated structures threaten to spread to Treasure Cay and impact groundwater.

He also outlined other challenges with the shantytown, including the proliferation of commercial size generators, the illegal sale of electricity and the sale of stolen goods. 

Bannister said in order to address these challenges, Cabinet authorized him, as the minister, to review the challenges associated with The Farm and to coordinate necessary actions to ensure that the unlawful practices are stopped.

He said this resulted in a multi-phased coordinated plan. The first phase of this plan was carried out on March 8. Yesterday’s demolition was the second phase of the plan.

Bannister, who was present in The Farm during the demolition, said yesterday this phase is “very important for the safety of the people who live here and for the safety of all Bahamians”.

He said the third phase, which will comprise the demolition of other structures in accordance with the provisions of the Building Regulations Act, is expected to start in two weeks.

“It is critical that everybody understands that these unregulated buildings must go,” Bannister said.

“Persons cannot live in this type of squalor. They cannot live in these dangerous conditions and they cannot be permitted to continue to create more dangerous conditions for Bahamians.”

But Smith said it is “most unfortunate” that the government would choose to create another humanitarian crisis on Abaco.

“Hundreds of people already lost homes in the tragedy of Hurricane Dorian and even more in the illegal demolitions by the government that followed,” he said.

“On the front of today’s newspapers, the managing director of the Disaster Reconstruction Authority is quoted as saying there is a severe housing shortage on Abaco.

“Yet the government – in the absence of any urgent need to take drastic action – is choosing to compound this crisis further, forcing more people into the streets, or the bush, or who knows where.”

However, Bannister said he is assured that individuals who have “regular standing” in The Bahamas and who want to be able to live in reasonable conditions can make appropriate representations and seek accommodations.

Demolitions at The Farm are set to continue today.

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