IT’S THE EMBLEM OF THE BAHAMIAN STORY OF STRUGGLE, SURVIVAL, INDEPENDENCE AND OWNERSHIP
How Perry Christie’s stand SAVED CLIFTON
The Clifton National Heritage Park, situate on the south western coast of Nassau and spanning 280 acres was created by special legislation in Parliament in 2004 and preserved for perpetuity for the Bahamian people.
The national park which contains the most intact ruins and artifacts of over 500 years of Bahamian history was narrowly saved from the earth movers and tractors of a major California development company which had been given permission by the then Government to desecrate the archaeology at Clifton and transform the property into a gated luxury residential community for non Bahamians
Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie drew a line in the sand in 2000, while serving as Leader of the Opposition challenging the then Government’s decision to allow the Chaffin Light-Bechtel Corporation’s development. Renowned international archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and environmentalists vigorously opposed development. A plethora of civil actions were started in the Supreme Court to halt the development and acrimonious debate charged the Parliamentary discussion on the topic as the incumbent Government refused to budge from their decision.
The archaeologists that the Government retained to do an independent Environmental Impact Study on the proposed development determined that the Clifton may be the only property in the country with valuable artifacts and ruins which date to the Lucayan Indians, Columbus’s landfall, the American Loyalists, the African Slave trade and Plantation life.
Imagine Yellow Stone Park becoming a landfill for corrugated metal and chemical waste.
Imagine Stone Hinge having all of its formations leveled to the ground to make way for a luxury posh tourist resort.
Imagine the Giza, the Sphinx and the Pyramids being blown up to accommodate a privileged gated residential suburb.
Such horrendous destruction was barely averted in the Bahamas after Mr. Christie, just two years out from a general election warned the then Government that should his party win the ensuing general elections all permits and licenses given to the Bechtel Corporation of Canada to develop the property known as Clifton or the Whylly Plantation would be withdrawn, the project would be stopped and the land returned to the Bahamian people as a national park.
The 280 plus acre tract of land known now as the Clifton National Heritage Park and situate in the south west corridor of Nassau was swooped up by the California developers the Bechtel Corporation around 1998 and an ambitious proposal was presented to the Government in office for the transformation to the vast beach and ocean frontage into a prototype housing community for the fabulously wealthy.
Prior to this the property which formed the perimeter of what Bahamians called “Jaws Beach”, after the movie Jaws 1V SFX was shot on location there, went largely unnoticed. The Sir Lynden Pindling Progressive Liberal Party Government had by law gotten what is known as a public acquisition of the property from its true owners for usage as a proposed Container Port and Shipping terminal.
However the Pindling Government left office in 1992 never having completed paying the adjudicated purchase price of the property which was acquired from the estate of the late Sir Harry Oakes, once reputed to be the richest man in the British Commonwealth and whose murder in Nassau in 1927 still remains unsolved.
When the Hubert A. Ingraham Free National
able to stir up various Bahamian actions groups opposed to the project on the preliminary basis that the legendary Jaws Beach would be estranged from the Bahamian people.
When the now infamous EPIA report commissioned by the Ingraham Government disclosed the hegemony of the nation and the historic connection to the property the struggle to “Save Clifton” took on an aggressive dimension.
The Ingraham Government was insolent and determined in declaring that their decision would not be overturned and even Chaffin Light- Bechtel Corporation began to give new public assurances that while they wished to continue with their development they would proceed with an abundance of caution and not demolish the ruins on the property.
This was roundly rejected by the Save Clifton lobby.
Enter Robert Kennedy Junior, and his Water Keepers Alliance, one of the world’s most influential and well connected Environmental Activists organizations and son of the slain US Attorney General ( brother of the martyred US President John F. Kennedy) who joined the lobby to Save Clifton and concurred with the archaeologists reports invoking the national treasure the property is.
Kennedy was reportedly joined by the American Billionaire Hedge Fund czar Louis Bacon who was awarded the Audubon Medal for his behind the scenes work, collaboration and efforts to get the Chaffin Light-Bechtel Corporation and its development plans for the property tossed.
Mr. Christie made his declaration in March 2000 on the beach at Clifton that upon becoming Prime Minister in the ensuing general election his Government would derail any such development at Clifton and by law turn the property into a national park.
Nassau was ablaze in protest over the development plans. Street demonstrations, protests, angry call-ins to Talk Radio shows, prolific protest letters to newspaper editors and strong threats from activists who vowed they would put their bodies between the tractors and Clifton.
But it was not until Mr. Christie galvanized the nation and the protest by adjourning his political party and prospective Government’s plans to the issue did the California Company relent and abandon the project. But the incumbent FNM Government announced that it was vacating ownership of the land and the acquisition done by the Pindling Government in 1985.
The FNM Government announced it was reneging on the land acquisition and would return the property to the Oakes Estate as its true owners to do with what they wished. Since the Pindling Government had not paid the Oakes Estate the agreed true value, some legal scholars opined that that the fee simple never passed to the Government.
In other words the Oakes Estate as owners could now sell directly to the Chaffin Light-Bechtel Corporation and take the Ingraham Government out of the political stew.
The court said as the property had been acquired for public use the Government was duty bound to pay the agreed appraised value for the property as they were effectively the true owners and could not revert by returning what the Land Acquisition Act held they owned.
1n May 2002 Mr. Christie’s PLP romped to a landslide victory at the polls and in 2004 the Christie Government made good its promise to create the national park.
Today Clifton has become the modern wonder of the country’s history and journey and Bahamians look to it as a thing of pride.
Renowned religious leaders Louis Farrakhan, head of the Black Muslims and the organizer of the One Million Man March on Washington the American capitol have visited and declared Clifton “Holy ground”. International celebrities, world leaders and other religious personalities have also included Clifton on their ‘Must visit” list while in the Bahamas.