By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday said criticism of his travel habits is “politically motivated,” adding that he is allocated about $120,000 per year for travel purposes.
His statements were given in response to a question posed by talk show host Jeffrey Lloyd who told Mr Mitchell that his travelling habits seem excessive, especially in light of the current “hard” economic times.
“I think,” said Mr Mitchell, “the criticism is politically motivated. What they are trying to do is impugn the PLP so anybody who appears to have some modicum of success you try to put some chinks in their armour. If you look at the record of the previous minister in the last administration, my budget and travel arrangements are no different from him because most of the meetings are routine; you have the OAS, the UN and Caricom, structured meetings you have to attend and other meetings are paid for by other people, not the treasury.”
“I don’t think,” he added, “anyone is really stupid to think that as a Foreign Affairs Minister you just sit around here in Nassau; that’s not how being a Foreign Affairs Minister works. Relationships require building. Countries function off the quality of those relationships. It’s a people business. You have to have contact with people in order to have successes. It’s fine to work by email and all these other things, but at some point you have to go and meet John Carey. It can’t always be us over the phone. That’s just the way human relations work. You have to invest a little, to gain a lot.
Mr Mitchell also defended himself against criticism of his personality. Explaining that he always speaks his mind, he said: “People can either take that or leave it. You’re free to dislike it, you’re free to accept it. What people want, what this country requires is a business-like approach to its development and forward trajectory and that’s what I offer.”
Comments
proudloudandfnm 10 years, 11 months ago
Fred!! Stop!! You know you only want MOFA so you could see the world for free. Man please. You travel like your addicted to it...
Oh yeah we broke and need VAT. Can't talk about it now though, gotta go to Timbuktu for a cool drink....
hotep86 10 years, 11 months ago
This man is delusional.
In other news, who wrote this article and typed the man name "John Carey" - what kind of journalist doesn't know the man name is John Kerry :\ - the current US Secretary of State - our Foreign Minister's counterpart...of the United States. Geesh.
incognito86 10 years, 11 months ago
Would love to see a detailed breakdown of expenses for the trips taken by this minister since taking up the post. There is NO REASON for $120k to be budgeted per annum for travel... BUT I guess when other Ministers are paying $15k PER MONTH for their office rent, why shouldn't he be tripping around the world. Everybody want their piece of the pie.
jlcandu 10 years, 11 months ago
Mr. Mitchell is a pompous a## and everybody in the Bahamas knows it. The fact that he thinks every negative comment about him is politically motivated shows that he is actually very ignorant.
The fact is Mr. Mitchell, that you represent a country and are spending the people's money. Therefore you are accountable to the people how you spend their money. Going around the world just to meet Dick and Jane is a poor excuse to explain your travels. In these hard economic times, you should be more mindful of how you spend the people's money (ie) pick and choose those meetings that must be attended to benefit the country, not your resume.
Believe it or not, there are other educated people living in this country and they don't appreciate being insulted by your sarcastic comments.
jackbnimble 10 years, 11 months ago
I couldn't agree more. I find it interesting that most people have the exact same impression - that Mr. Mitchess travels extensively on the taxpayers' purse - but to delude himself into thinking everyone who feels this way is poitically motivated, well pompus **** is an understatement.
banker 10 years, 11 months ago
The most disturbing aspect of the MOFA, is his habitual dissembling and compulsive prevaricating. He is incapable of a direct statement that consists the literal truth. His mendacious, deceitful manner is two-faced and guileful. One feels that one needs a shower after any sort contact or mention of the MOFA's name. His legacy will be extremely trivial and overshadowed by the dark odious secrets that he holds and will eventually emerge in the public domain. He still is embarrassed by his brother going to jail, and that is the least of his skeletons in the closet. He would do the Bahamas and humanity a favour by resigning.
realfreethinker 10 years, 11 months ago
A real a@@hole. who thinks he is not accountable for his actions.
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 11 months ago
Hit the nail on the head. A true master of twisting the English language...and delusional to boot, he can never be wrong or admit to wrong, any negative feedback must be a personal or political bias.
To this day, he still has not given a straight account of the Cuban detainee fiasco.
BDN 10 years, 11 months ago
So... He is allowed $120,000 a year on travel? $600,000 in five years. That is a lot of travelling. Where could I go with that much money? Is that just his travel budget? Or does that include his posse? That is waaaaayyy to much. That is crazy!
Honestman 10 years, 11 months ago
I listened to the entire broadcast on Geoffrey and was pleased that Geoff Lloyd didn't shirk from asking the questions the public wanted to be asked. Unfortunately, Mitchell came across as completely arrogant and gave the impression that he was behind the microphone under sufferance. It is obvious that he has no understanding of his responsibility to be accountable to the citizens of The Bahamas and anyone who disagrees with him is "an enemy of the State" or politically motivated. Under Mitchell's world view, foreign investors in the Middle East can't wait to pile billions of dollars of capital into The Bahamas. And then what? Be told that they can't have a work permit for key staff or even a housekeeper? Fred Mitchell in this last 18 months has done his level best to persuade potential investors that The Bahamas is really not a business friendly place from which to operate. The excuse that he gave for the delays in processing work permit requests was frankly lamentable. Lack of equipment and resources? How much money was spent by Cabinet to take a posse of 30 officials in a photo opportunity to meet the Pontiff in Rome? Savings from that trip could have gone to Immigration Department to secure the additional resources needed to improve the Department's performance. In a recent Tribune article it was revealed that the government of Barbados has forced its ministries to slash all travel budgets by 50% No chance of that happening under the PLP's watch. Without fresh and continuous foreign investment in this country, unemployment will surely rise and The Bahamas will lose its appeal as a tourist destination. Why does Mitchell not understand that his rhetoric is creating entirely the wrong message to those who would consider investing in this country? Actually, he probably does understand. More likely, he simply doesn't care.
watcher 10 years, 11 months ago
Let's be honest here - Fred would go to the opening of a fridge.
TalRussell 10 years, 11 months ago
Comrades delusional would be to have read this story as if it was the minister who had penned the words, John Carey." Exactly the minister's point you are too political in twisting it to look like the minister doesn't know the difference between a John Kerry and a John Carey.
BDN 10 years, 11 months ago
I understand where you are coming from. Typically however (from both parties), if they don't spend what is in the budget they lose what money is left over. I have had government agencies come into my work and say they have to spend this money or they will lose it. It just seems to me that they have to spend the money..
BDN 10 years, 11 months ago
That's true. But do you think any government we have now will not spend it? lol. It seems to be a bad habit they have.
Thinker 10 years, 8 months ago
That is what government is in the business of doing - finding new ways to spend your money.
HolandObserver 10 years, 11 months ago
Every time Minister Fred Mitchell speaks, I can help but to think that he is being condescending. As I listened to him on Geoff Lloyd, I knew for sure that he thinks that all Bahamians exclusive of him are intellectually inferior....what a jerk!!!
banker 10 years, 11 months ago
When this person was the MOFA the last time the PLP were in power, a colleague of mine traveled to China with him. If the public knew of his personal behaviour there would be an outcry to have him removed. I am willing to bet that the file that the Chinese Intelligence agency has on Fred is thicker than an entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He and Phillip M. who was our representative there, behaved in the most egregious animalistic ways exhibiting incredibly poor judgement and dissolute, profligate, debauched actions. The man must have something completely wrong in his brain, otherwise he would not be able to sleep at nights. The disturbing element, is that due to his intemperate actions, he is compromised by the Chinese, and that is not good for the Bahamas.
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