The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

BRANVILLE McCartney, DNA leader, believes that the Christie administration does not have the political will to deal with the country’s shanty town problem.

Months have now passed, the former State Immigration Minister said yesterday, and the country still waits to see what the government intends to do with shanty towns.

He reiterated his party’s suspicion that the government is slow to action because shanty town residents are important in winning elections. Mr McCartney said that according to his party’s records, only one landowner was issued notice by the government.

“They were issued a notice,” Mr McCartney said in a press statement, “because they were granted Crown land for a specific purpose, but instead used the land to house illegals that erected unlawful structures, usurped electricity illegally and caused damage to our environment.

“This land has been illegally used for years to rent to illegals for the most part. We in the DNA are informed that this land owner manipulated the circumstances because quite a number of Haitian nationals in particular lived on this land that they control.

“Thus, it was used as a voting block during the general election to persuade those who are now Bahamian, but of Haitian heritage to vote a particular way for their (landowner’s) financial gain. But now we see that an FNM senator is representing this person. And we hear very little from the official Opposition on this matter. Is it possible that they also condone the shanty town development in the Bahamas?

“So now we have the PLP not doing anything and the FNM not doing anything when they had the opportunity and as a matter of fact defending the owners of the shanty town.  Yes indeed, two sides of the same coin.”

Mr McCartney insisted that if the government does not pay serious attention to shanty towns and illegal immigrants, Bahamians will have serious problems in the future.

“We will lose our country if we do not move post haste to deal with this vexing situation. You can be assured, had the DNA won the government we most definitely would not be having this conversation.

“With the known environmental destruction and financial burden that shanty towns and illegals cause to this country, it is most negligent of the government to simply ignore this problem.

“We in the DNA are convinced that the political will is not there by this government to deal with illegals and shanty towns and if they were to deal with it, the official Opposition, through their senators, would defend the landowners. Indeed the Bahamian people seem to be getting the wrong end of the stick,” Mr McCartney said.