By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

PRESS Secretary Clint Watson says private owned land has made it difficult for the government to stop the growth of shanty towns in Abaco.

"The reason why it’s so difficult for government to be able to intervene and stop it is because of one major thing, private land,” Mr Watson said Friday at an Office of the Prime Minister press briefing.

“The private land is owned by people and if you own your land, you can give somebody permission or you can enter an agreement with people to be on your land. And guess what they do? They pay you to be there. You understand it’s not government land, private land,” he said.

“And so it’s very difficult for government to step in and tell somebody, ’No you can’t let them do that’, because it’s not the government’s land.”

Mr Watson’s comments came a day after Immigration Minister Keith Bell’s statements at a press conference.

After being asked about the land on which unregulated houses were being built in Abaco, Mr Bell said, “Some of it, in some cases is Crown land. And some of it we are aware of is Crown land that was leased to Bahamians who subleased it to other people.”

He added, that “there will be an increased number of immigration officers deployed to Abaco due to the recent expansion of several shanty towns there, with one unregulated community mushrooming to 200 acres since 2019.”

Amid these concerns, Mr Watson said Friday that Mr Bell and other ministers were doing their best to ensure the problem was dealt with “methodically” and without issue.

“I think a lot of times, we want things to happen instantly. It doesn’t always work that way, because you have to now methodically deal with how you’re going to address issues and do it in the most humane way without violating United Nations clauses, ensuring you are not violating any other laws,” Mr Watson said.

“Be sure that the administration is keen on addressing the issue. The minister of immigration is mandated and he is well executing his job to ensure it happens,” he said.

Mr Watson said the issue of the unregulated homes in Abaco is one in which Bahamians share the blame.

“Nowadays if you look at these shanty towns, they aren’t building them like how they used to build them before. They’re livable homes now,” he said.

“But that still doesn’t mean you can go in there with a bulldozer and break it down, because it’s not your land.

“People often lay the blame at government’s feet without recognising that there are Bahamians at the foundation of this issue, because they are making money off of these people’s desperate need.

“To police Crown land, especially on these islands where there are thousands of acres, it’s almost next to impossible, you don’t have the resources to do it. It is a difficult problem.

“We have many challenges, more than you could imagine that you have to go through legally to be able to take action and that’s what we have to bypass,” Mr Watson said.

To date, the government of the Bahamas has spent over $2.2 million on repatriation exercises, with some 2,804 persons being repatriated to their homelands by the Department of Immigration, said Director of Immigration Keturah Ferguson.

A recent operation on Abaco resulted in 52 arrests and exposed the scope of the worsening shanty town problem.

The Department of Immigration launched Operation Expedition from October 7 to 10, when immigration officers as well as the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force went to the island to explore, detain and eventually repatriate any irregular migrants found.

The expedition found that one shanty town in particular - The Farm - had grown from 50 acres to about 200 acres since Hurricane Dorian.

Other shanty towns, including a large area in Marsh Harbour, have also expanded.