The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Michael Pintard yesterday raised concerns that the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation was evicting families unable to meet their payments in Grand Bahama.

Mr Pintard said he and Senator Kwasi Thompson have met with more than 10 families that were adversely affected by the development, adding that the pair had already made representation to the government asking for urgent intervention.

He said the matter was distressing given the island’s severely depressed economy and high unemployment rate.

“On top of the fact that the economy is doing bad,” he said, “the government of the Bahamas through the Mortgage Corporation is engaged in a series of exercises that is evicting Grand Bahamians from homes that they have not been able to pay the mortgages on because of a wide range of reasons.

“We are appealing to the government to carefully look at the decisions that are being made. We certainly expect that Bahamians will honour their obligations to pay their bills, to pay their mortgages, but in cases where people are in dire straits the government ought to take a hard look at ways in which it can help the individual families remain in their homes and work out an arrangement to deal with the arrears that exist.”

Mr Pintard spoke at a press conference at the party’s headquarters yesterday.

He said the evictions were even more troubling against the backdrop of recent reports that the Bank of the Bahamas had granted loans to high-ranking Bahamians who were not making active payments.

He said: “It is a troubling development in Grand Bahama, especially because of the state of the economy in Grand Bahama and we’ve heard heart-wrenching stories relative to these families.

“In some cases where they have lost a breadwinner or had other major tragedies in the family that adversely effected their ability to continue payment. So we’re asking the government to look carefully at how we might be able to assist families throughout the Bahamas that are losing their homes.”