The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell suggested yesterday that his government’s handling of investigations into reports of the US National Security Agency recording cell phone conversations in the Bahamas reflects his party’s superior defence and support of the country when compared to the Free National Movement’s approach to such matters.

His statement came after former Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette accused him not only of “grandstanding” over plans to give a full report into the NSA allegations, but also of not handling the issue properly.  

In a statement yesterday, Mr Mitchell said: “I once told Brent Symonette, the former deputy prime minister, to climb back under the rock from which he came. I renew that call today. He has accused me in this morning’s Tribune of ‘grandstanding’ because I am standing up for the Bahamas. Here we go again with this nastiness.

“There is a difference between the policy of the FNM and the PLP when it comes to the defence of the Bahamas and our foreign policy. The FNM and its spokesmen only see the case of the other country, not the case for the Bahamas. The FNM’s foreign policy supports silence, stupidity, and obsequiousness and apologetic behaviour. The PLP stands up for the Bahamas. One day the FNM will grow a spine and stand up for Bahamians.”

Mr Mitchell reiterated that the government is “doing its own work” on the issue and will address it whether or not the US provides an answer to its requests for information.

When pressed on this, he said: “The principle is, if any unlawful activity is taking place, it has to be stopped.

“The fact is a spokesman for an honourable country, the United States of America, made a promise to provide an explanation,” he added. “Honourable countries are expected to do honourable things. Since the United States is an honourable country, I and Bahamians have every right to expect that the United States will in these circumstances do the honourable thing.”

Reiterating a view expressed by FNM Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Hubert Chipman, Mr Symonette on Monday said Mr Mitchell should have immediately gone to Washington, DC, to deal with the matter once it was made public in May.

“If you have an issue with America, go to Washington and deal with the matter,” Mr Symonette, former minister of foreign affairs and immigration, said.

“I honestly feel that he was grandstanding. He was in the press beating up his gums about the issue in the days that followed the report going public. He promised Bahamians that he would get the answer and we see today, there is still no answer.”

On May 19, The Intercept reported from documents obtained by whistle-blower Edward Snowden which showed that an NSA programme, SOMALGET was “secretly intercepting recording and archiving” every cell phone conversation in the Bahamas and that those recordings were kept for a month.

On June 10, Mr Mitchell told reporters that he would present a full report in Parliament on the spying claims, as the Bahamas government had asked US officials to give an account on whether the alleged spying was true. If found to be true, he said the government would insist on finding out if the recordings were taken legally or illegally.

Mr Mitchell the next day announced in the House of Assembly that John Kerry, the United States’ secretary of state, had stepped in to oversee investigations and that a report was promised. That report was expected to be handed over to the Christie administration some time during the following week, but to date the government has not received it.

Mr Mitchell has said he has no concerns with America’s lack of response because the Bahamas government was doing its own investigations.