The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former Immigration minister yesterday urged the Department to conduct investigations with “more decorum”, adding that this week’s incident at Atlantis “does not bode well for the reputation of the country”.

Branville McCartney, who acted as minster of state for immigration under the former Ingraham administration, said that while Immigration officers had the right to “carry out the law”, the heavy-handed way in which they tried to enforce it - in front of Atlantis’s tourist guests - had created potential reputational damage for the Bahamas.

And the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) said further damage was being done to the Bahamas’ reputation as an attractive destination for business and foreign direct investment (FDI) by the seeming confusion surrounding the Government’s work permit/Immigration policy.

Mr McCartney said the initial House of Assembly statement by Fred Mitchell, minister responsible for immigration, was then contradicted by both Prime Minister Perry Christie and Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, who said the issue was merely put out for “public discussion” and was not a ‘set-in-stone’ policy.

This was then countered again by Mr Mitchell stating “this is what it is” as long as he remains minister, Mr McCartney added.

“You have a confused society not knowing what government policy is, and a confused international society not knowing what the policy is,” the DNA leader told Tribune Business.

“You have international people saying: ‘Look at those Third World people. Let’s not mess with them; let’s go somewhere they have clearly defined policies.”

Suggesting that it would have been better for the Immigration Department to meet with Atlantis’s human resources executives to deal with the matter, and call the affected person in quietly, Mr McCartney said: “You would have had tourists seeing the actions of a government department, and that does not bode well for the reputation of the country.

“That is the concerning part: The way we go about it.”

Mr McCartney said persons who were appealing the Immigration Department’s rejection of their work permit could stay in the country until the appeal was decided, and also continue working. This was the situation affecting Atlantis’s sea lion trainer, until she was hauled off the job by Immigration Department officials after failing to produce her passports.

Immigration officials also detained five expatriate engineering staff on the Sheraton cable Beach Resort’s property yesterday, although the matter was handled quietly and resolved by Baha Mar officials.

Urging the Immigration Department to “check the facts” before it acted, Mr McCartney agreed that the Atlantis situation should have been handled differently.

Noting that the Department had acknowledged its mistake, he added: “Perhaps it’s something that now warrants an apology but, of course, the damage is already done when it comes to tourists who witnessed what transpired.

“We need to operate in this country in a way that shows decorum. It has not only a marked effect on us locally, but internationally.”