Statement by Fred Mitchell MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Responding to the opposition’s claims on the
Consulate General’s Office
24th March 2014
The comments about the position of the Consulate General’s office for The Bahamas by the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs published in today’s Tribune are supercilious.
Here are the facts:
The Bahamas government decided as a matter of policy to place a Consul General in Washington D C to answer the complaints of the Bahamians living in that jurisdiction and the surrounding states spurred bythe growing inattention ofthe government to their concerns.
While the FNM did not favour the policy, they voted to support the budget for the opening of the office in June of 2013 in the House of Assembly and Senate without dissent.Hubert Chipman, one of the FNM MPs, was amongst those who voted for the expenditure on the office.
In our discussions with the State Department of the United States, we were advised that premises for a Consulate General could not be approved for Washington D C within the same quarters as the embassy but only as a distinct entity.This required separate quarters and the most efficacious result is the office now utilized by the Consul General.
Mr. Chipman should not try to do the impossible: approbate and reprobate at the same time. In other words, in the real world, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.
