The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

JUST two days before the general election, the Bahamas Humane Society was gifted 15 acres of Crown Land by the Government of The Bahamas.

The Bahamas Humane Society is a non-profit organisation founded in 1924 and dedicated to promoting the humane treatment of animals through continuous education in a variety of methods, to end pet over-population through an aggressive spay/neuter campaigns.

BHS president Kim Aranha is elated about the land grant and cannot wait to be able to finally expand the society’s operation.

“Yes, the Government of The Bahamas very kindly gave land to the Bahamas Humane Society to be able to expand,” Ms Aranha confirmed to Insight. “The land is located on Adelaide Road and it is 15 acres.

“The Bahamas Humane Society is thinking about how exactly we will handle this, but certainly more land was needed and therefore a lot of the facility will move. However, it is possible that a satellite facility will be maintained down in the Chippingham area.

“In terms of expansion, we are thinking of being able to accommodate more animals in general. We would also like to be able to assist with the retired Surrey horses. We would also very much like to be able to have an animal friendly hurricane shelter. So these are all things that the board is considering now.”

BHS vice-president Charlotte Albury was responsible for the negotiation that led up to the granting of the land. She said although the months of negotiations is now a blur, she and her team are very excited about the thought of the much-needed expansion.

“It’s all a blur now,” Ms Albury said. “We went through all the filling out of forms, meeting with the different government agencies that we had to meet with. At the end, the Prime Minister is the one who gives the permission to grant Crown Land.

“We saw him (former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis) about six months ago and he was able to find us the 15 acres that we now have. It’s on Adelaide Road, just past the Coral Harbour roundabout. After that we had to have it surveyed which again took a couple of months and then after that it got the right signatures. I feel we were lucky to get it as fast as we did. They really worked with us to get that property.

“We actually got the paper signed and put in our hands on September 14. We are very excited about expansion. We are housing over 300 plus cats and 200 plus dogs. It never stops. We do airlifts and as soon as we get 100 or 200 out, within a week we get them right back with more coming in.”

The first BHS headquarters was located in Parliament Street, however in April 1937 these premises were destroyed. In 1947 the animal shelter opened at its current site in Chippingham and if officially became The Bahamas Humane Society.

It is Nassau’s oldest charity and in 2014 BHS celebrated its 90th anniversary of service to The Bahamas. BHS receives $15,000 in funding from the government each year and the operations relies heavily on donations, memberships and fundraising for the rest of our operating budget.

Although this is very good and appropriate news for the Humane Society, the issuance of Crown Land has been known to be used as a political tool.

A government official told The Tribune that the Department of Land and Surveys is one of the most miss-used government agencies in The Bahamas.

The department, which handles Crown Land, according to the official, issues the coveted property but does not follow up to see if the land is actually being used for what is stated on the application.

The system of issuing Crown Land has been a contentious issue for decades with countless allegations of poor management of acreages that, in fact, could be a serious source of economic empowerment and assist in spurring economic growth in The Bahamas.

In 2018, the Minnis Administration moved the issuance of Crown Land from the Ministry of Agriculture and made it the responsibility of the Office of the Prime Minister, citing that the Prime Minister would be solely responsible for making the decision on who gets what.

Chapter 252 of the Crown Land Acquisition Act Section 2 C and D states the issuance of Crown Land should be only for the purposes of “providing hotel accommodation, or promoting the tourist traffic of The Bahamas, or providing increased harbour and dock facilities, or the agricultural development of The Bahamas, or any other public undertaking.”

Applications for agricultural use far outnumbers touristic development and is more easily obtained as there is little paperwork required.

“Many politicians and big named Bahamians have abused the Crown Land system and have built their homes on it,” the Land and Surveys source claimed. “If we come up against them in this office, it will be our jobs. I work here, but this is one of the most corrupt government agencies in the government of The Bahamas.

“Over the years I’ve seen Crown Land abused by both the PLP and the FNM... I pray that this new government comes in with a plan to change things whereas Crown Land is concerned.”

The Tribune source said the problem does not only come with political interference, but the fact that the department has only one inspector who cannot do follow ups alone to ensure the land is being used for the purposes granted.

“One of the real hiccups is that there are no inspectors inspecting what these people are doing with the Crown Land,” the source said. “There were inspectors some time ago but they had no understudies. They are long gone. As it stands now, we only have one inspector.

“So there is no manpower to do any checking on what’s happening with Crown Land issued and I am not sure if that is intentional or what. It is so far gone, even if we get inspectors, they will only be able to monitor recently issued Crown Land.

“People have abused the system for so long.

“What’s going to happen now is if a new government comes in they will go over the paperwork, saying they are doing due diligence,” the source continued. “A year or two will pass and during that time you will see the two storey houses being built.

“There was this man who we actually went to a few years ago. We told him he was on Crown Land and that he was not using it appropriately. He then informed us that he had paid someone from Land and Surveys over $20,000 for his land. There was actually an investigation and we found out that a colleague in Land and Surveys was selling Crown Land to people.

“She was stealing pieces of Crown Land from others and actually selling it to people,” the source claimed. “At the end of the investigation she was found to be in violation of what we do here and she was transferred. We could not understand why she wasn’t charged before the courts and fired. But, she was just transferred. She is still works for government.”

One would remember the case of Tex Turnquest, the former Department of Land and Survey’s Director who after some 37 years of employment with the Department was accused of sellilng parcels of Crown Land to family members including his mother-in-law. These beachfront lots were alleged to have been sold at less than $2,500 each and later re-sold to foreigners for a profit in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In 2009, after the Tribune published a series of stories on the allegations, then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who was known to shy away from even the appearance of malfeasance or scandals, asked Turnquest to resign. Turnquest resigned and soon established a land surveying company called TR Associates Limited.

Due to the magnitude of the allegations and evidence supplied, a select committee of the House of Assembly was formed in 2009 to investigate the matter. Although that committee did not find Turnquest guilty of malfeasance, it questioned his judgment and he maintained his innocence.

Many thought that would be the last they saw of Turnquest, who was well known in high societal circles, but were shocked when he resurfaced last year hired by former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis to work on specific land-reform related projects. The land reform projects are said to be a part of the government’s ambitious initiative to ensure more Bahamians have greater access to Crown Land.

The Tribune tried to access a registry of Crown Land users, but was told the list is private and that those in receipt of the land cannot officially register it at the land registry’s department because the land is only leased and not out rightly owned by them. Crown Land is leased on an annual basis and small fees vary by how much acreage one receives.