The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I know nothing at all about Canadian Freeport resident Bruno Rufa personally as a human being, nothing of his interests, hobbies, personal characteristics or otherwise. That said, the campaign being waged against him by our Department of Immigration, which seems hell bent on his exclusion from the country without reason or warning, is very worrying to me. From what I can gather, it is yet another example of a case which right-thinking Bahamians should be paying close attention to if they care in the least about justice and the state of our economy.

According to reports, Rufa has lived in The Bahamas with his partner for many years, mostly during the winter. He bought a condominium and claims to have taken it upon himself to try to make the area more appealing to other investors, by becoming the president of his condo board and sprucing up the place, though I can’t judge whether this is correct or not.

All of a sudden, at the beginning of last year, he was charged with a crime – supposedly he was working in a pool bar at the condo complex without a permit. We can’t know how true this is yet, as it has yet to be taken before a judge. However, what to me is more important is that before he could even be tried on that matter, he was kicked out of the country by the immigration department for being what they call an “undesirable” (exactly what this vague term means, it is not clear). He challenges this decision in the courts through his lawyer and seeks re-entry, only to find that the immigration department – against the wishes of the judge presiding over the judicial review – allows him back in not even long enough to hear her decision!

Finally, when the decision is delivered, Rufa is vindicated in the courts as far as his deportation goes – Justice Petra Hanna Weekes says the decision breached the rules of natural justice, as there was no real evidence presented as to why Rufa was “undesirable” and should not be allowed to stay, and he was also not given a chance to respond to these accusations. I thought that would have been the end of it, at least until the working without a permit charge can be heard.

But no, the Department of Immigration keeps

hassling the man, brazenly kicking him out again, shortly after Hanna Weekes’ finding that criticised the same behaviour before. Again, Rufa finds himself fighting the actions of an immigration department which acts like a law unto itself to get back into the place where he has for years owned property and where no one has apparently been able to present any solid evidence of why he should not be continued to be given a chance to remain.

Fred Smith, QC, has said Hanna Weekes’ finding that Rufa was wrongly deported last year is one that backed investor rights and protections. Whatever personal disputes may have taken place between Rufa and people in Freeport, I agree with him that it appears the Bahamian court system has acted as a “beacon of light” on this matter. We just can’t have government agencies thinking they can abuse people without providing some reason for their behaviour.

Arbitrary actions by an immigration department that doesn’t like the law won’t do anything to turn the Bahamian economy around, it will only scare investors already wondering for many other reasons whether The Bahamas is a safe place to be. Whether you know or like Rufa or not, it seems to me that if the immigration department’s victimisation of him is allowed to go on unchallenged we all suffer eventually.

JUDSON DEMERITTE

January 17, 2016.