As the revelation comes to light that Baha Mar had a similar issue with immigration and a few foreign workers as Atlantis had recently with a sea lion trainer, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Mr. Fred Mitchell (PLP) seems to be ever more intransigent, Mr. Perry Christies (PLP), Prime Minister, tells the nation that the immigration department needs to be more sensitive and careful with its actions. (Nassau Guardian April 26, 2014).
Albeit there does not seem to be a public apology coming from immigration for their apparent breach of the law, the Prime Minister seems to be trying to bring some sanity into this situation, noting that we need to have a successful economy, and foreign workers are necessary once justified.
Meanwhile Mr. Mitchell continues to exhort that only foreign workers need to adhere to the law.
We are a nation of laws, not the whim of a Minister or Department head. So his admonition applies equally to his staff.
There is a growing sense of dread in the business community as this is no way to encourage investment. And without investment and a cooperative spirit between law abiding companies, business people and the government, the economy will only continue further down hill.
Instead of a conciliatory approach after this blunder the government is giving the impression they want investors to put their money here in bricks and mortar but cannot have a say in who they hire.
Not a good way to run a country dependent on Foreign Direct Investment.
What next, a knock on the door in the middle of the night?? These “brown shirt” authoritarian tactics must stop.. It time for our Prime Minister to exhibit some leadership and install discipline and control over his out of control Cabinet.. The people of the Bahamas deserve more than the empty bill of goods that they were sold at election time..
Sorry Tradewinds,he has no leadership skills & that is clear,he can however seemingly raise the old dead PLP’s from the grave ! He does not seem to run a very tight ship with absolutely no control over his team.I guess now we can see why the former prime minister was like he was.
Dennis, hope springs eternal as for without hope there is no future.. So glad you agree with my commentaries, but I must amend one assertion.. What the nation has “raised from the grave” in its entirety is the same old PLP authoritarian governance and incompetence that brought the Bahamas to its very knees.. Today the behavior of the Immigration Department immediately comes to mind where its gestapo-like tactics are a national embarrassment and a red flag to foreign investment..
Its time for government to get its act together and put on a happy face.. The Prime Minister may not, as you say, have “no leadership skills”, but he has a wealth of experience he can utilize to take control of his Cabinet and government.. We must give him support to do the right thing for our nation..
Ok Tradewinds,I hope he can Improve but if the past is any indicator we are dead,dead,dead.Sorry but I do not have much hope in him or the PLP & they are living proof as to why I do not.Just the fact that they would do something like the Immigration fiasco should sound a very loud alarm to us all.Sorry again Tradewinds,experience in what exactly,wasting time & money ? Have any of them PLP/FNM really done “the right thing” as you say for our country or themselves ??????? I have my doubts.
I share your doubts Dennis.. I do accept your point for just like you I too hear “a very loud alarm” sound a very frightening warning.. As Hemingway so cleverly put it in his great novel “For Whom the Bell tolls”; “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee”.. Let us not forget that Hemingway’s bell is a single funeral bell tolling for a person or nation that has just passed away.. When a nation hears the bell toll, then like a person its life expectancy is very short indeed..
I am all for Bahamians first,don’t get me wrong.The problem I have is this:Bahamians cry “we don’t have any beaches” so why do “Bahamians” go to the beaches we do have & leave all their garbage etc.etc.etc.Bahamians say “no boy,dis we tings” & don’t crack about what the WTO is going to do to us all,or”dis we tings” but make absolutely no attempt to tackle the Illegal immigrant problem but the idiot Immigration dept will go to Atlantis & embarrass the whole country with no problem.We have NO LEADERSHIP.Part of this PLP problem we have should be blamed on Ingrahm & McCartney for not kissing & making up,seems they both preferred to let the country fall into the PLP turmoil its now in.By the way,I thought the crime problem would magically go away under the PLP,what happened,oh sorry I forgot,its the fault of the US.
Kinda like abandoning a child, which ends up in Foster care,
but refusing to relinquish rights so the Child can be adopted by persons who can and wish to provide for said child.
“Dis we tings” seems to mean it is ours to crap all over!
As for WTO etc etc,
Ingraham opened the Entertainment and Restaurant fields to direct foreign investment,
but not because we want to make sure we have a full and complete offering for our visitors, the reason given,
but because we committed to doing so a few years prior, at the EU-EPA table.
Immigration work permit fees will shortly be considered “discriminatory” and will be challenged.
A modest application fee no problem.
Real Property tax on Foreigners but not Bahamians is also out.
We are so behind the bus……….
but we bought the ticket!