Citizens of Guana Cay continue fight to respect local rights, save environment and claim Crown Land and heritage

On September 29 2007, the Freeport Supreme Court ordered that Save Guana Cay and Aubrey Clarke could issue a new Judicial Review case to sue the Government and Hope Town District Council, the local government district for Guana Cay and the Bakers Bay Developers.

This is the 2nd Judicial Review case launched against the Government and Developers. It is the 1st against the Hope Town District Council.

Save Guana Cay is an association of Bahamians and foreign residents dedicated to preserving their unique heritage and culture, the land and marine environment, promoting respect for locals to be responsible for their island and saving Crown Land for future generations of Bahamians.

Guana Cay is internationally recognized as a unique marine and land environment and boasts one of the most picturesque and pristine traditional old Bahamian communities in the Abacos. 

Despite this, in February 2005 the PLP Cabinet, under the direction of PM Perry Christie, and after years of secret planning and negotiations with developers, and following its now disgraced Anchor Project policy, dictatorially and without consultation with the residents of Guana cay, signed a Heads of Agreement with Bakers Bay, a foreign real estate developer, to allow a tax free $500,000,000 hotel, residential, golfing and the largest marina project in the Bahamas.

Since then the residents of Guana Cay mounted and continue to fight for their rights. They believe that the golf course will destroy the rich marine reef life.  The exclusively affluent and foreign gated residential community will destroy one of the few remaining forests, containing a fabulous variety of flora and fauna, in the Northern Bahamas. The marina dredging and silting will destroy Joe’s Creek, and the hundreds of ancient mangroves which protect against hurricane storm surges and are the nurseries for the marine life on which the fisherman on the island depend.

Their traditional crabbing and hunting grounds have been lost, as the former PM Perry Christie agreed to give it to the developers for $1 per acre or some other secret amount. Despite elections promises to the contrary, the FNM, according to the Developers, has issued the Crown Land Deed to the Developers of the last remaining 179 acres of Crown (public) Land left on the island. There will be no room for the local community to grow in the future. The 150 Bahamians will be surrounded by over 700 foreigners.

Perversely….the Developers, who only paid $1 per acre, have now offered to sell 1/3 of an acre of our Bahamian Crown land back to Bahamian citizens for $50,000 or $150,000 per acre, thereby making a swift profit of 149,999%. What were the PLP and what are FNM Cabinet ministers thinking?

The development will be completely out of scale with the small island community, dwarfing it in size. The construction of the development is expected to take 10 years, and will require hundreds of transient foreign laborers. The social, economic and environmental life of this old Bahamian community is being destroyed. The local citizens are becoming foreigners in their own land.

In Save Guana Cay Case number 1, the Association obtained an injunction (after several appeals in the courts in the Bahamas) from the Privy Council in London, stopping the development until the trial. In October 2006, at the trial, acting Justice Carroll, in the Supreme Court, ruled that the Heads of Agreement was valid and allowed the development to continue. Save Guana Cay appealed and is waiting for a Court of Appeal decision.

At the Court of Appeal hearing the Government and Developers argued that even if the Heads of Agreement was invalid they had received all necessary permits from the necessary government departments, and were therefore not relying upon the Heads of Agreement as authority to proceed.

In their pre election promises, the FNM party promised freedom of information, promotion of local rights and preservation of Crown Land for Bahamians. Since the FNM became the government, Save Guana Cay have repeatedly asked the FNM to make full disclosure of all of the permits.

Despite their promises the FNM has failed and refused to give any information and Bakers Bay claims that the FNM government has given 150 acres of Crown Land to the developers.

The citizens of Guana Cay, trusting the FNM, are appalled by the FNM’s betrayal, even though 90% voted for the FNM in the general elections.

Now, after pressure from the Court of Appeal, the Developers, 2 years later, have provided copies of the permits they say were necessary to proceed with the development. For 2 years, the PLP and the FNM have kept the details of this development secret from their own Bahamian citizens, preferring instead to conspire illegally with the foreign developers, and permitting the rape and destruction of the environment, as they have done in Bimini and elsewhere.

Save Guana Cay case number 2 challenges all of these so called “permits”.

The defendants in this action are The Queen, the Director of Physical Planning, The Prime Minister, the Town Planning Committee, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Labour, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, the Commissioner of Police, the Water and Sewerage Corporation, the Hope Town District Council, the Attorney General, and the Developers, Passerine at Abaco Limited, Passerine at Abaco Holdings Limited, Bakers Bay Limited, Bakers Bay HOA Limited, Bakers Bay Marina Limited, and Bakers Bay Foundation Limited.

Save Guana Cay claims that the defendants did not have lawful authority to give the permits; that contrary to law the citizens of Guana Cay were not consulted; and that in any event granting the permits was irrational and contrary to the Constitution because they discriminate against Bahamians and residents who have to pay customs duties while the Developers and their buyers invest and own tax free.

Save Guana Cay also claims that Crown and Treasury Land is only for public purposes and for Bahamians. It is not supposed to be given away to foreign developers, for their profit, tax free.

No agreement under the Hotels Encouragement Act was given by way of disclosure; so the citizens of Guana Cay ask this FNM government to make full disclosure and tell the public on what lawful basis Customs is allowing Bakers Bay to import materials customs duty-free?

The Association continues to ask for discovery and will shortly be seeking another injunction. We will go to the Privy Council again if necessary. The English seem to have a little more respect for local and environmental rights than our own country.

Bakers Bay is continuing to desecrate, destroy and ruin the environment. See the photos exhibited with the court papers.

The citizens of Guana Cay will continue to fight for their rights as against the PLP, the FNM, and these destructive foreign Developers who have taken away their environment, heritage and quaint, picturesque Family Island.

Troy Albury is the president of Save Guana Cay, and copies of the action and his affidavit are attached as well as a copy of the Court order.

This war will continue and the citizens of Guana Cay need funding to continue to fight for their rights. We invite the public to visit our website, contribute to our cause financially, and to give support by letters to the Editors, press statements, telephone calls to the FNM members of parliament and in any other way possible.

This is not just about Guana Cay! This is a fight for the future of the Bahamas! What is happening in Guana Cay is one of the more abusive examples of what is happening all over the Bahamas.

Save Guana Cay is a member of Save The Bahamas and supports all those other freedom and environmental fighters in Nassau, San Salvador, Bimini, Harbour Island, Mayaguana, Rum Cay, Exuma and elsewhere in the Bahamas, the Caribbean and the rest of the world, fighting to protect their homes, cultures and environments from ignorant and blind politicians and rapacious and destructive developers. The politicians care for nothing more than to win political brownie points by announcing some development and the developers to make a fast dollar!

Please help us to protect our children’s heritage and the future of the Bahamas!

Photo top left: (left to right) Sarah Kirkby, PR Liaison for SGCR, Anthony Robert's, Secretary of the SGCR, Troy Albury, President of SGCR and Fred Smith, SGCR Attorney, speaking during a press conference held at the Calendar's & Co. Board Room in Grand Bahama.

Top right: Secretary of the SGCR Association Anthony Roberts, a generation Guana resident and fisherman, showed the media some of the damage being allowed to seep into the waters surrounding his island. He made it very clear that he did not feel the Bakers' Bay Developers are protecting the environment and that if was ridiculous that they should be left to self govern themselves in their environment practices.

Bottom left: President of the Association Troy Albury made a plea to his fellow Bahamians to help them win their on-going battle to save their island. He appealed to everyone to visit the associations website www.saveguanacayreef.com and to help them campaign by email, newsletters or calls to the Government to ask them to stop the Baker's Bay Development. Albury noted that his island was not unique to over development and noted how his Association is also helping with the Bimini and San Salvador issues.

Bottom right: Attorney for the Save Guana Cay Association, Fred Smith, details the new lawsuit issued by his clients Save Guana Cay Reef and goes over the ongoing case that the association has waged for over 2 years. Pictured (left to right) are Troy Albury, President of the he SGCR who flew to Grand Bahama for the Press Conference and the associations attorney, Fred Smith.

Submitted by the Save Guana Cay Reef Association/Photos: Franklyn Williams Keen i Media