The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell refused yesterday to discuss the compensation and benefits package of a young male Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee posted in London, whose reported benefits worth more than $200k a year have drawn intermittent scrutiny since the PLP won office in 2021.

The issue resurfaced during the House of Assembly’s budget debate when Long Island MP Dr Andre Rollins asked whether a ministry employee in London was receiving a salary, rental allowance and educational expenses under a specific budget line item.

Mr Mitchell declined to address the matter, insisting overseas postings are governed by contracts with the government and established policies.

“Officers of these ministries work for The Bahamas government,” he said. “This is not a matter to be discussed in this forum. Every officer who serves overseas has a contract. It's a contract with The Bahamas government and it has specific terms and conditions.”

He said allowances for officers serving abroad are set out in foreign service orders.

“Allowances are also in the public's, in the foreign service orders, and whenever someone serves overseas, he or she gets those allowances, and no one has any, as far as I'm aware, has any extraordinary terms that would be outside either the law or policy,” he said.

The exchange followed concerns raised in April by former Foreign Affairs Minister Darron Henfield, who questioned whether a young male employee posted to London by the Davis administration was costing taxpayers more than $200,000 a year.

Mr Henfield also questioned whether future administrations should be bound to maintain such contracts under proposed foreign service reforms.

“Is Mitchell suggesting,” he said, “that we keep a young man in London who's there now, currently, supposedly working at the mission in London, and costing the Bahamian people over $200,000 per annum?” he said. “Is he suggesting that that is what he's trying to protect?”

Mr Henfield was responding to Mr Mitchell’s position that new Foreign Service orders under the Foreign Service Act 2025 will make most contract officers permanent and pensionable while protecting non-political staff from dismissal.