Victor Mondesirlee spoke with “The Nassau Guardian” on Friday, from his home located in a shanty town off Carmichael Road.
NASSAU, The Bahamas--Victor Mondesirlee (48) lives in a cramped two-room structure, which has no electricity and no indoor plumbing, in The Village shanty town off Carmichael Road.
“I have been here for 25 years and paying rent,” said Mondesirlee, who told The Nassau Guardian that he is a Bahamian citizen. “For the 25 years, I have been spending $200 [per month – Ed.]. You know, I can buy my own house with that. I can buy my own land, or I buy from them. When I talk about them, I mean the main source – the prime minister.”
Mondersirlee said he lives alone and uses a bucket as a toilet. When asked how he gets rid of his waste, he replied, “I throw it out.”
Demolition of illegal unoccupied structures in a shanty town on Abaco started last month. Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister said last week that plans are in place to begin a similar exercise on New Providence “very soon”. He has maintained that the demolition of the structures is necessary because of health and safety risks.
On Friday, Mondesirlee said the government’s plans to demolish shanty towns on New Providence is moving “too fast”.
“Why do you have to break [them] down?” he asked. When asked if he believes his home is safe, Mondesirlee replied, “No.” When asked why not, he said, “Because I do it out of the law. I built it out of law because everything in The Bahamas, the law has to be in it. When I talk about laws, I mean if you go to build a house in The Bahamas, you have to have a plan, but I built it without a plan.”
The Village has a little over a dozen homes. While there are no actual roads in the community, many of the structures are larger than Mondesirlee’s and seemed to be built from cement.
One man, who said he is a Bahamian who has lived in The Village for 28 years, wished to remain anonymous. He questioned why the government would choose to knock down these structures.
“I was here, like you said, for almost 30 years,” he said. “I do not have [anywhere else] to go. After the court took my house from me and gave it to my wife, I had to find someplace to sleep. I could not continue sleeping in my car. I have built a nice home in this yard and my home looks way better than most of the homes in Bain Town and Nassau Village. My home looks way better than all of them.”
He said he pays for telephone, electricity and cable services, but does not have a mortgage for the home.
There is another shanty town located less than a five-minute drive away from The Village, and it is three times the size of The Village. It was there that The Guardian found a barefoot and shirtless Fenol Senentil (56) sitting on his doorstep eating mangoes. Senentil said he has lived in the community for 29 years.
“We do not have enough money; that is why we live here,” he said. “If government breaks everything [down], I will try to do my best. I will try to do my best.” Senentil said he does not have enough money to move now.
Bruno Pierre (23) and Dinell Medius were also in the community on Friday. Pierre said he has lived there his entire life. When asked about the government’s plans to demolish shanty towns on New Providence, he said, “Hell no. They should not be allowed to tear down the houses.”
Pierre said the government cannot just demolish the structures. When asked why not, he said: “Because we [are not] going to let them do it.” Pierre declined to elaborate on what he meant by that.
While Medius does not live in the community, he said more than half of the residents living there are his relatives. “I think it is inhumane because people have been living here for a good amount of years,” Medius said. “I think before they come and demolish this, I think the government should come together with the people and come up with a plan to see how they can up the standard of the way they are living.”
In 2018, the Minnis administration announced plans to demolish shanty towns throughout the country, giving residents of most shanty towns on New Providence until August 10, 2018, to leave before demolition. Residents in Abaco shanty towns were given until the end of July 2019 to leave. However, in August 2018, Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson granted an injunction preventing the demolition of shanty towns. The government is seeking to have that injunction lifted in an ongoing Supreme Court hearing. ~ The Nassau Guardian ~
