The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE widespread criticism sparked by the government’s plan to severely restrict work permits is proof the government has not considered that position carefully enough, FNM deputy chairman Duane Sands said yesterday.

A leading physician, he noted that the healthcare industry could be affected by the proposed work permit limitations and also hit out at “the typical reckless and irresponsible behaviour of this current government”.

Dr Sands was responding to Immigration and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell’s contribution to the House of Assembly on Monday. The former senator dubbed Mr Mitchell’s remarks “irresponsible rhetoric”.

“The public response to a statement by the minister has demonstrated that, while at face value it might seem to reinforce the idea of being supportive of Bahamians, the fact is this has clearly not been thought through carefully enough.

“And the fact that this has clearly not been thought through carefully enough and the impact of a blanket-sweeping policy that is nonsense, that is not considered, that doesn’t pay attention to the known or unknown repercussions, demonstrates the typical reckless and irresponsible behaviour of this current government,” Dr Sands said.

“Like a bull in a china shop,” the PLP conducted a “public relations exercise” without paying attention to the effect it may have on segments of the economy that are stressed and “struggling to get back on their feet,” he said.

“I would wish that this government would think first and then make statement after, but clearly this is all about public relations - this is all about politics,” he said. “The election is over - the PLP won. What the Bahamian people now demand is responsible governance, not the on-going pandering to try and win a few brownie points in the court of public appeal.

“In healthcare, for example, we simply cannot do without foreign nurses, physicians, and other healthcare professionals, and that is to provide healthcare for Bahamians – public patients,” he said.

If the work permit limitations affect the healthcare industry, he explained, “you are going to directly negatively impact the healthcare of poor Bahamians.”

Head of the Bahamas Nurses Union, Cleola Hamilton, admitted yesterday there is a “serious shortage” of nurses in the country, but added: “I am not sure what the minister would have said would reflect on nursing but we believe that more efforts should be placed on training and retention of Bahamians and more focus should be placed on the training of nurses in the Bahamas.”

Ms Hamilton also serves under Mr Mitchell as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.

Mr Mitchell had said in the House of Assembly the government will stop issuing work permits for maids, housekeepers and labourers in about a year.

The government is also considering limiting the number of years a foreigner can stay on a work permit to three, and insisting that a Bahamian understudy must be identified and hired before a work permit is granted.

Mr Mitchell added that his suggestion is that permit fees should “increase substantially.”

The Immigration Department wants to be certain, Mr Mitchell said, that the plea for a need of excellence in service is not a “mask” for preventing Bahamians from getting jobs in the private sector “which are rightly theirs.”