Another date for Haitians to leave the Pigeon Pea area of Marsh Harbour passed on 31st March with nobody leaving. There are an estimated 4,000 squatters living in The Mud and Pigeon Pea in central Marsh Harbour. The areas were settled more than 20 years ago and the population has steadily increased.
The putative owner of the Pigeon Pea property, Rocky Albury, has asked that Haitians leave so he could reclaim his land. The problem is that there is nowhere for the Haitians to go. Government has promised them a new settlement between Marsh Harbour and Joe's Creek but in a year the land has not even been surveyed and cleared. Until there is somewhere for them to go, the Haitians must stay.
Mr Albury requested early in April that electricity be withheld from Pigeon Pea because it was being distributed illegally within the settled area. Police refused to allow this as it could lead to civil disturbance. As it was, there were several Haitian protests with people holding placards of protest.
A delegation from the Grand Bahama Christian Council led by their president, Rev J C Wallace, came on a fact-finding mission and to address human rights concerns. They toured the Pigeon Pea area in the company of Island Administrator Everette Hart, Chief Councillor Silbert Mills and others. Afterwards, Rev Wallace admitted that the public attitude towards the plight of the Haitians was much better than he had been led to believe and the facts were better than appeared to him formerly. He looked forward to government getting under way with the new 300 lot subdivision.
That is the sentiment of almost every resident of Marsh Harbour, Haitian and Bahamian. The settlers cannot move until they have somewhere to move to. The ball is now in the government's court. And has been for quite a while.
HTML Copyright © 2001,Abaco Journal