The Tribune

The headlines screamed across front pages, disrupted business and split an already fractured nation into silos.

Crime and fear of crime placed The Bahamas on dreaded travel advisories from the US Embassy and Canada. The once peaceful paradise was suddenly the piranha of the travel trade. Impact was immediate. One tourism-dependent business said he suffered more than a 30% decline in a single day after the warnings. Even visitors to islands far from the capital cancelled, not realizing, as one Family Islander said, “it’s like cancelling a trip to Ft. Lauderdale because there’s crime in New York.”

Patience will be a partial fix. Headlines fade, yesterday’s crisis is replaced by today’s, but the reality is that the basis of those salvos will not vanish as fast as the ink that delivered them. Crime and the fear of crime will continue to haunt us as Bahamians whether the headlines remind us of our failings or not.

This Is forcing us to face the truth. For too long, we have lived in overcrowded, dense, often dirty, unregulated, unplanned, soul-starved urban environments. We’ve looked the other way as too many among us have been surrounded not by strong family ties but by lack of identity. We knew it was a perfect recipe for the gang movement to move in and take charge. We ignored the warnings.

Young men aching to feel like somebody were willing to lower their pants and raise their self-esteem. They flocked to gangs where they felt a sense of belonging. Nothing was too great to ask if belonging was the reward. Rape an 80-year-old woman. No problem. Shoot at a passing vehicle. Rob in broad daylight. Arrest, jail, bail, gunfire. Survive, start it all over again. The vicious cycle and recidivism continued to fester underground and out of sight until suddenly it was in our face, and we could no longer pretend it was somebody else’s problem, it was ours, all of ours.

It wasn’t a neighbourhood issue, it was a national crisis. What affects one eventually affects all.

We can bemoan the state of affairs or take bold action.

I wish I could say that what I am about to suggest was original, but it is not. It has been tried in other places and the beauty of its lack of originality is that we have proof that it works.

It’s the great land giveaway. The anti-crime movement may just lie in the people movement. Entice residents of New Providence to pick up stakes, move with the farther the location, the greater the

incentive, spread the population to centers that need it, build and boost those waiting economies and reduce the pressure on overcrowded areas.

More jurisdictions around the globe are joining the relocation movement to help solve varied problems – environmental, infrastructural, economic and social.

In the past few years, relocation incentives have led to a wave of new growth in Italy, Canada. Scotland, even in a state in the U.S. where the population was declining until political leaders realized the benefits of paying people to move there outweighed the cost.

The jury may still be out on some but others call the results nothing short of amazing. One city just outside Rome was burdened with ancient homes built long ago, abandoned and in danger of demolition by neglect until it agreed to sell the properties to anyone who would repair, renovate and occupy the buildings for the payment of $1. Because of its proximity to Rome, dollar bills were flashing like lightning bugs in summer and the town was being restored in record time.

In the rural U.S., the Ascend West Virginia program is offering $20,000 in three tranches to new residents who move to the Mountain State. The first $10,000 is a cash payment, no strings attached, simply an incentive. After year one, the household receives another $2,000 plus $8,000 in outdoor activity experiences and gear, white water rafting, sports gear and equipment. The result – an active, younger population of people moving into a state that was not long before suffering a serious population decline.

In Pipestone, Manitoba, Canada, the government is offering plots of land for $10.

The example that most closely resembles The Bahamas is Scotland. With 1,000 islands, many with decreasing populations, in 2019 the government tackled the problem with a massive National Islands Plan that includes a variety of incentives, including a qualification process for 100 households to be awarded up to $65,000 to relocate.

What all these plans have in common is the willingness to pay a small price upfront for what has the potential to become a game-changing, long-term reward at the back end.

They are based on the simple premise that nothing promotes pride more than the ability to point and say “See that land, that’s mine.” How do we instill that pride of ownership in those who appear to lack a moral compass? We give them a new compass by which to steer their way straight to a better life. We pay them to do it. We give them what they cannot possibly get without a gift to begin with. We give them what we have plenty of, a piece of land to call their own, and they give us what we need, a redistribution of the population that breaks up gangs, relieves pressure on overcrowded, unsafe neighborhoods and restores faith in the future of Family Island development.

The government has set aside 36,148 acres of Crown Land in Andros, Abaco and Grand Bahama for agricultural purposes. And that is only what was set aside for agriculture. There’s much, much more Crown Land, oversight of which resides in the Office of the Prime Minister and that land runs the length and breadth of the archipelago. Imagine young people starting small farms and businesses in Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked and Acklins Islands, Long Cay and elsewhere. Imagine the boost to the Berry Islands. Where people move, businesses grow up to satisfy their daily needs. Small markets, paint stores, a lumber yard, fuel stations, a new church is built, the school expands, there

are more after-school activities. Communities start small and grow with spirit and soul and friendship.

By taking the very bold and courageous step of providing incentives to move young men and women out of Nassau to less populated family islands by providing land and start-up cash to build a dwelling or start a farm, we recognize the magnetic connection between land and the human spirit.

Ownership is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal against violence. Never has there been a more important time to use the best we have.