For residents of Bozine Town and Knowles Drive battling to stay on the properties they live on, the struggle is a torturous one.
ﾓWe need to know what is going to happen,ﾒ said Shirley Johnson, one of the residents. ﾓIs the government really going to do what they say they would do for us because speculation is that we will still have to pay in the long run. Why should we have to pay for properties that we already paid for?ﾒ
Ms. Johnson was referring to a statement made recently by Member of Parliament for Blue Hills Leslie Miller that the residents will remain on the land even if the government has to purchase the properties for them.
For several months now, they have been fighting the Harrold Road Land Development (Landco), which a Supreme Court judge has determined is the rightful owner of the properties in question. More than 3,000 residents have been affected by the decision, with Landco officials ordering them to vacate the land or come up with the money to pay for it.
For the residents at the heart of the matter, the struggle has been too long.
ﾓIs it going to take the next five years, 10 years, 15 years or 20 years? Is this going to come back up again later down the road? When will the torture end?ﾒ Ms. Johnson asked.
Government officials have secured several extensions for the residents, with the latest one set to expire on March 31. Attorney General Alfred Sears has said his office is investigating to determine whether the residents own the properties as they claim.
Simeon Rolle, who said he has lived in Bozine Town for 38 years, is hoping that Minister Millerﾴs promise that they will not have to leave the land will be fulfilled and that the dispute will soon be resolved.
ﾓI feel very displeased about how the government is treating the people in the back here,ﾒ said Mr. Rolle, who sat home on Monday.
ﾓItﾴs frustrating because I have title deeds from the Supreme Court and from the Registrar General so therefore itﾴs frustrating to me to know that they would give one person the deeds and then turn around and give the ownership to someone else.ﾒ
He added that the way in which Landco dealt with the situation was very inhumane and claimed that he along with many other residents were never called to defend themselves in court when Landco was claiming ownership of the thousands of acres of property.
A 77-year-old grandmother said Monday she is putting her trust in God and will wait to see the outcome of the dispute before becoming worried about having to relocate or repay for her property.
ﾓIﾴve been up here 36 years and I want them to know that God put me here and I will forever be here because I did not steal my way on this place,ﾒ Doreen Brown said. ﾓI came here honestly and I am not going to be shaky in my mind that I would have to leave.ﾒ
The Bozine residents took their plight to the streets during a demonstration in Rawson Square earlier this month.
But they said nothing has changed since that move.
ﾓI really feel bad that a situation like this is happening to the residents,ﾒ said Franklyn Archer, who also lives in Bozine Town. ﾓI just hope the government could get us sorted out so we can put this issue behind us. We are really hurting and we need this problem to end.ﾒ
Like many other residents, he said moving off the land is not an option.
During the demonstration this month, Minister Miller, who is the parliamentary representative for the constituents, indicated that there were several options the government was examining to try to resolve the matter.
They included: acquiring all of the land in Bozine Town and on Knowles Drive and reimbursing Landco with other properties in New Providence or on the Family Islands; purchasing the properties and reselling them to the residents at very low prices and obtaining soft loans from the Mortgage Corporation to have residents pay for the land.
Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
