Members of embattled Bozine Town and representatives of Bahamas Christian Council will march on parliament next week if Prime Minister Perry Christie does not give a written assurance to the community that they will not be displaced from an area they have lived in for more than 50 years.
Making this announcement in an interview with The Tribune yesterday, spokesperson for the Bozine Town Steering Committee Tyrone Brown said that vice-president of the Christian Council Bishop John Humes – who has taken up the fight for the community – is attempting to force a face-to-face meeting with the prime minister to get the issue of this land dispute settled once and for all.
“Thank God for the Bishop, he is trying to arrange a meeting with the prime minister, to finally get a written promise that we won’t have to move off of our land,” he said.
Mr Brown said that, pending the outcome of that meeting, the people of Bozine Town and Knowles Drive, as well as reprepresentatives of various churches, will decide to protest in front of the House of Assembly on Wednesday.
The area surrounding Bozine Town and Knowles Drive has been at the centre of a fierce land dispute since late 2004.
At that time 500 or so residents of the community received notices from the law firm of Lockhart and Munroe informing them that its clients, the Harrold Road Land Development Company, (LANDCO) had been granted certificates of title for property between Bozine Town. Knowles Drive and Harrold Road.
The people of Bozine Town attempted to contest LANDCO’s land titles, but the Supreme Court last month dismissed the action.
In an effort to assist Bozine Town people in their plight, local MP Leslie Miller, at a recent town meeting, assured his constituents that they will not be displaced.
He disclosed that his government is in talks with LANDCO principals to exchange Crown Land in one of the Family Islands for the Bozine Town and Knowles Drive land.
However, since that announcement was made, the Bozine Town community has not received any further information regarding the possible trade-off.
Residents are now growing increasingly concerned as the deadline to appeal the Supreme Court ruling draws near.
“We now have less than two weeks to appeal. But we were told not to worry, that we wouldn’t have to go through with a costly appeal, that government would settle with LANDCO and give them land in a Family Island. But it seems that these were only words. Our lawyer, (Milton) Evans, is still waiting for the Attorney General to return his calls, and we haven’t heard from anyone else from government,” Mr Brown said yesterday.
He said that waiting on government to follow through with its promises has wasted valuable time in which the community’s lawyers could have started preparing a case for the Court of Appeal.
“We are now giving them until Tuesday evening. If we don’t hear anything by then, we will protest. We will also begin drafting our appeal,” he said.
By KARIN HERIG Tribune Staff Reporter
