By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said investigations conducted by law enforcement officials on Abaco found that a number of unregulated communities on the island were on leased private or Crown land.

He said in view of these findings, it will now be up to the relevant agencies to decide whether to revoke those leases.

Mr Munroe made the comments when asked to confirm reports about the government, specifically the Immigration Department, establishing a task force to deal with shanty towns on the island.

“I know the task force that’s being led by the new agency to be set up - BOWEN (the Bahamas Wildlife Enforcement Network) - went down to assess the activities in the Pine Forest which is in my remit and it found that a number of developments were on private land or on Crown land that was leased,” Mr Munroe said before yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

“That is an issue for Ministry of Works and the Office of the Attorney General as to whether or not their leases are to be revoked. If they’re not being used properly, if there are immigration issues then the Department of Immigration would operate to make sure it is able to identify, apprehend and repatriate all of the irregular migrants.

“When we did the operation in Bonefish Pond and Harold and Wilson Pond, immigration was along and did find some irregular migrants so I don’t know about an immigration task force.”

This comes amid mounting concern about the increasing number of illegal communities springing up in Abaco.

In a recent interview with The Tribune, North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish said the reported number of shanty towns there were “alarming”.

He also expressed support for the creation of a special task force to deal with the issue, saying the time for action was now.

Some observers have said it was hypocritical for the government to demolish the Abaco domes which were largely being occupied by Bahamians and yet not address the shanty town issue.

Yesterday, Mr Munroe was asked to respond to the criticism.

However, he claimed “No Bahamians lived in the domes”.

“The Bahamians who lived in the domes were paid money to be relocated. I am told that there was just somebody running a bar out of one of them so the Bahamian government didn’t demolish any of the domes being occupied by any Bahamians.

“The issue of irregular building is something throughout the entire Commonwealth and even in built up areas in The Bahamas and some middle class subdivisions and so I’m told that there is a demolition order of a building on West Bay Street and so the issue of enforcements with Ministry of Works’ approval process for building which is directed after all towards the safety of people occupying them is a matter for the Ministry of Works to push aggressively.”

Mr Munroe also said: “We’re in a hurricane zone. Hurricane Dorian made it quite clear to all that if we do not have safe buildings, there can be disastrous results and so the remit of the Ministry of Works is to ensure that all buildings are up to code and the only way that you can know if they’re up to code is if you submit the plans and they’re approved.

“There are also issues of pattern of development because the overall town planning and scheme of development is at the control of the central government and so the government will move to enforce all of its laws.”

Before Hurricane Dorian decimated them in 2019, shanty towns across Abaco had more than 1,000 homes and an estimated population size of 3,500, according to government reports.

While it is not clear how many shanty towns are now present on the island, the numbers are said to be growing on a regular basis.