As many as 75 families who have struggled to survive since Bahama Star Farms shut down its operations following a citrus canker outbreak 20 months back, were plunged into greater misery when the government cut their electricity five weeks ago. The government had continued to provide electricity to the farm hands after the American operators abandoned the 3,700-acre property.
The electricity bill had reportedly reached $42,000 before power was cut on June 21. North Abaco Chief Councillor Stephen Pedican revealed that the Bahamas Electricity Corporation initially billed the local government district for the $42,000 electricity arrears, but explained that it was eventually forwarded to the Office of The Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister instructed me [Tuesday] to – with the help of the Minister responsible for BEC – have the lights at the farm turned on,” Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Leslie Miller told The Guardian last night. “The Prime Minister was extremely concerned about the humanitarian issues surrounding those people at the farm. He was concerned that without electricity, they couldn’t get running water to flush their toilets and do other things.”
Mr Miller said the government had hoped that power would have been restored by Tuesday but assured them that it would be last night.
He revealed that Mr Christie had asked him to travel to the Treasure Cay farm on Wednesday to get a first hand view of the situation but added that he had had to postpone the visit until Monday due to rising tensions. “We spoke to Administrator Revis Rolle and he said there was a lot of tension building at the farm and he advised that we put the trip off until next week, when things calmed down.”
The agriculture minister said he would also take officials from the Department of Social Services to the farm to address outstanding concerns.
Spokesperson for the farm’s families, Katty Paul said the power cut had caught the community totally off guard. She said former agriculture minister V. Alfred Gray, when he visited the farm immediately following the canker outbreak, had pledged to sort out the farm hands and promised to warn of changes such as a power cut.
Former farm labourer Roselene Juene, 40, said she felt the government only cut the electricity because all those living there were either Haitian nationals or Bahamians of Haitian descent.
In the weeks since they lost power, the former farm hands had resorted to using portable gas-operated generators for electricity. They had also contracted an electrician to repair a broken 90 KW generator formerly used for back-up power at the farm.
When asked how existing and future electricity arrears would be covered, Minister Miller said: “I can’t answer that now. But our primary concern is that the power is turned on.”
By: Raymond Kongwa, The Nassau Guardian
