The Tribune

THE COALITION to Protect Clifton Bay group has urged the Government to better regulate the conveyance of Crown Land.
 Leaders behind the non-profit organiaation, during a recent interview on a radio show this week, said it was the Government’s responsibility to implement regulations, maintain transparency and safeguard the nation’s Crown Land.

Coalition directors, FredSmith QC and Joe Darville, both called for the passage of a Freedom of Information Act and an Environmental Protection Act.
 “Without the Freedom ofInformation Act, governments have had a free hand at giving away or selling at a very low price land that belongs to us,” said Mr Darville.

“It is reprehensible and wrong for our property to be given away without our approval,” said Mr Smith.

Under the Local Government Act, Mr Smith cited a requirement that the Government consult with the local Town Council before Crown Land is sold or conveyed.

The land, said Mr Smith, is not the Government’s to convey -- it is the people’s land held in trust by the government, and should only be managed after full consultation and transparency.

“Crown Land is the heritage of every Bahamian person. It is the land in the Bahamas that is not owned by any private person and is held in trust by the Bahamian government, the person of the Crown - the Queen - for the benefit of the Bahamian people,” said Mr Smith.

“The three branches of government constitute government in Tte Bahamas. But the entity that is actually the Government at the end of the day is the Crown.

“It is the Crown that holds 70 per cent, I think, of land in the Bahamas for the benefit of the Bahamian people. So Crown Land belongs to us all and it should not be given away without consulting us.”

Developments in Guana Cay, Bimini Bay and Grand Bahama were all mentioned as locations in which Crown land was offered to developers at little or no cost.

According to Mr Smith, Baker’s Bay property was purchased at $1 per acre. “This is your land, this is my land from one end of the Bahamas to the other. Safeguard it, it belongs to us,” said Mr Darville.

“Open your eyes and see its beauty, its grace and its magnificence. God has given it to us, and it is our heritage patrimony and we are the stewards, of it for future generations.”