There is an urgent need for land reform in The Bahamas, which would include a land registry, to cut back on the amount of land theft that is taking place in the country, Arawak Homes Chairman Sir Franklyn Wilson said yesterday.

"The first problem with land policy is just proving to people you own it and protecting your ownership of the land because people [are] stealing it," said Sir Franklyn, during the Business Week opening ceremony at University of The Bahamas.

"There's something that's been on our books called the Quieting [Titles] Act. It's a license to thief.

"...In our country, somewhere at some time, we must develop some system of land registration, such that people know this is my land; it's more difficult for people to steal it."

Sir Franklyn continued, "Arawak Homes, it's amazing, cannot own a lot of land in this country, unless you are loaded with lawyers around you. It's a matter of land."

He delivered the keynote address on the topic, "Leadership Lessons: The Role of Leaders in Building Sustainable Businesses".

The theme of Business Week is "Building A More Sustainable Economy After 50 Years of Independence".

Sir Franklyn said creating a sustainable economy requires land reform.

The Davis administration has committed to such reform.

In its pre-election document, "Our Blueprint for Change", the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) said it would "introduce policies to protect the distribution of land".

Speaking in the Senate last year February, Attorney General Ryan Pinder indicated that the current administration is serious about reform.

Pinder said, "In our Blueprint for Change, the PLP government has pledged to advance land reform in The Bahamas.

"Consistent with our pledge and without wasting time, the Cabinet of The Bahamas has agreed to appoint a public-private sector committee to review land reform issues in general, with a view to analyzing the land registration system in The Bahamas.

"As we all know, land reform is an urgent issue and title matters in The Bahamas, throughout the entire country, is a vexing issue to many. The prime minister has once again demonstrated a sense of urgency on fulfilling the mandate on which his government was elected."

But more than a year later, it is unclear what the committee has achieved.

Asked yesterday whether the committee completed its work, Pinder said it has not.

The Minnis administration had also promised reform, but did not make the kind of progress it had committed to making.

Addressing a Bahamas Association of Land Surveyors' seminar in November 2017, Peter Turnquest, who at the time was minister of finance, promised that the government was committed to reform in a "holistic way".

"This includes improvements to the way land is recorded and title rights passed, to land adjudication programs to settle the vexing issues of generation and Crown land grants," he said.

"Additionally, we must address this outdated law on quieting of land, which is inherently unfair."

The law was not addressed.

In a matter heard between 2014 and 2016, the Court of Appeal noted, "The objective of the Quieting Titles Act, Ch. 393 is to provide a statutory mechanism for title to land in The Bahamas to be quieted through the Supreme Court.

"To this end, the court's role under the act is to fully investigate the claim (or claims), receive evidence with respect thereto, determine the truth of the facts intended to be established by the evidence and, ultimately, act on and declare the ownership of the land on the basis of the evidence before it.

"The process is completed with the grant of a certificate of title to the person who, in the view of the court, has established the better title thereto."

Sir Franklyn noted land is an important driver of economic development.

"If you look at the last 50 years, one of the most significant policy divides in the country revolved around land when one government said we must introduce something called the Immovable Properties Act," he said.

"That was intended to take out the degree of speculation and to make it possible for people to not just hoard the land and do nothing on it, just speculating.

"The fact of the matter is, that policy, as attractive as that may sound to you, it adversely affected the pace of economic activity because that speculator may be ripping the country off ... but the fact of the matter is, he [is] spending something and something is still li'l better than nothing.

"So, my point to you was two governments, different perspective; each one has a case as to why they say keep it; the next one says don't keep it. These are the types of things which legitimate debate must take place on."

Sir Franklyn proffered, "I believe there is a majority view today that on balance changes in the Immovable Properties Act have been negative as a broad statement because it has driven up the cost of real estate today where it's incredible."

The Bahamas Real Estate Association notes that the repeal on January 1, 1994 of the Immovable Properties (Acquisition by Foreign Persons) Act drew a sigh of relief from many attorneys and real estate agents. For years, these professionals had complained that the act made the acquisition of land in The Bahamas by foreign persons cumbersome and that it acted as a deterrent to legitimate investment.

Responding in Parliament on July 22, 2019 to a claim made by then-Opposition Leader Perry Christie that the Ingraham administration was responsible for selling Bahamian land to foreigners, thereby putting at risk the ability of future generations of Bahamians to own land in their own country, then-Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said, "As to the rising cost of land, I believe the record will show that the enactment of the Immovable Properties Act drove the real estate sector in The Bahamas into serious decline with plummeting land prices and a stagnation of development.

"The enactment of the International Persons Landholding Act stopped that downward spiral and turned the real estate sector around. The act facilitated many foreign land owners in The Bahamas in moving forward with long-postponed developments on land already owned by them."

On the issue of Crown land grants, Sir Franklyn suggested yesterday that some religious leaders have been abusing these grants.

"There are a lot of preachers in this country, they are going to have to answer to their God because they went to the government, asked for Crown land and successive governments gave them Crown land," Sir Franklyn said.

"Someone needs to go and do a survey and see every preacher in this country, whoever got a piece of Crown land, and if they haven't built a church, they should give it back or something should happen.

"So, a major issue for successive governments in this country is going to be what is the appropriate policy on Crown land."

In its "Blueprint for Change", the PLP pledged to, "Address the backlog of requests for Crown land immediately."

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