The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A newly-formed non-governmental organisation (NGO) is seeking to compile a database of shunned Crown Land applicants as the basis for yet another Judicial Review legal action against the Government, Tribune Business has been told.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, told Tribune Business that Crown Land for Bahamians was looking to develop a “non-political” class action-type action that would challenge the Government’s failure to respond to thousands of applications.

He added that the NGO, established last year, had been receiving as many as 400-500 hits a day on its website and Facebook page from disgruntled Bahamians who had either been turned down - or not even received a response - to their Crown Land applications.

Mr Smith said some 200 persons had already completed a registration form on the website, detailing the status and fate of their applications for what he described as “the foundation of economic development in the Bahamas”.

The need to reform the Crown Land allocation process, and to make it more transparent in particular, was acknowledged last week by Prime Minister Perry Christie in his efforts to appease the organisers of the ‘We March’ protest.

However, Mr Smith told Tribune Business that this was too little, too late as far as many Bahamians were concerned, and without any sign of concrete action and reform was to be treated as more talk and empty promises.

“This is the same old, same old,” he said. “On the eve of another election, the Prime Minister is promising what should have been done decades and decades ago by both political parties.”

Mr Smith said Crown Land was held on trust for the benefit of all Bahamians, meaning that the minister responsible - the Prime Minister/Minister of Finance - had a fiduciary duty to the whole population in how this asset was used and managed.

“Simple law of trust means that it is not to be held to his political benefit or to dispense political favours to stay in power,” he added.

“There should be a process of complete transparency, a process of registering applicants, that is not dependent on political favouritism, cronyism and corruption.”

Mr Smith told Tribune Business that Crown Land for Bahamians had been established to confront these issues, and its website and Facebook page had been “getting hundreds of hits a day - up to 400-500 hits in one day”.

He added: “It’s received thousands of likes and shares, and 200 people have registered to give the position of their applications.

“Registration forms are on the site, on which people have documented what applications have been made, the land involved, when it was made, if they’ve received a response, and if they’re Bahamian or foreign.

“We hope this registry can form the basis of a class action against the Minister of Finance responsible for Crown Lands under any government,” Mr Smith continued.

“This is nothing to do with the PLP or FNM. It will be a class action by way of Judicial Review, challenging the methods and failure to respond to Crown Land applicants. As Bahamians we have a right to our Crown Land; it does not belong to the politicians, PLP or FNM.”

Crown Land is a key tool for empowering Bahamians and increasing their ownership of economic development, but its allocation has frequently been mired in controversy.

Tex Turnquest, the former director of lands and surveys, was forced to resign from his post by ex-Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham when it was revealed that five parcels of Crown Land in Forbes Hill, Exuma, had been granted to his friends and family. Shortly after being granted, they were ‘flipped’ to foreign buyers for significant profits.

Tribune Business also previously revealed how the first Christie administration granted well-known Bahamian contractor and PLP supporter, Edward Penn, some 7.366 acres of prime commercial land on Gladstone Road for $221,000 in 2006. Yet the same property was turned into mortgage security for a $7 million loan within three months.

Crown Land was also at the centre of the recent controversy that erupted over the $2.1 billion Chinese agriculture/fisheries proposal, which suggested that up to 20,000 acres in Andros could be granted to the 100 companies involved.

Mr Ingraham, when in office in 2009, admitted that the awarding of Crown Land had been plagued by “irregularities, misapplication of policies and incidences of preferential treatment for family, friends and social acquaintances”.

He also placed the importance of Crown Land in context, noting that of the 3.45 million acres of available land in the Bahamas, around 2.5 million acres - some 72.5 per cent - belongs to the Crown Land.

Of that latter figure, some 900,000 acres is wetland, leaving 1.6 million acres of dry Crown Land.

Prime Minister Perry Christie, too, last week admitted that there was “an urgent need” to resolve land-related issues.

“My government recognises that land for Bahamians is essential for economic development and social progress, and that there is an urgent need to resolve land issues in the country,” the Prime Minister wrote to the ‘We March’ organisers.

He said the National Development Plan, which is being crafted with input from the private sector and civil society, had made recommendations on how to resolve land ownership disputes, particularly those impacting commonage or generational properties.

“It also makes recommendations for improving the allocation of Crown Land to deserving Bahamians who have a serious and viable plan for putting the land to productive use,” Mr Christie said. “We also need to improve the transparency of all Crown Land matters, and we are determined to do so.”

Mr Smith, meanwhile, described Crown Land as the Bahamas’ “raw material” for economic and social development, pointing out that its importance was highlighted by the eagerness of foreign developers to access it.

“The litmus test for how important Crown Land is, is reflected in the fact that every foreign developer that comes here seeks out and obtains thousands of acres of Crown Land at a time,” he told Tribune Business.

“It is obvious that Crown Land is at the epicentre of opportunities for growth and development in the Bahamas. But the Bahamian public is asking why is it that only foreigners get Crown Land at drastic discounts, such as #$1 a beach acre at Guana Cay.

“Land is the foundation of economic development in any nation such as the Bahamas. We don’t have raw materials. This is our raw material.”

Land, Mr Smith explained, formed the bedrock for all forms of real estate and economic development, including tourism, commercial, industrial and residential usage.

He added that a transparent process for awarding Crown Land, coupled with an efficient, non-partisan financing mechanism, would enable Bahamians to “do many of these developments you see foreigners doing” or at least pave the way for their participation in joint ventures.