The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday criticised the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association for requesting Prime Minister Perry Christie to stop his attempts to have police investigate alleged comments of incitement made by non-nationals at a town hall meeting two weeks ago.

Mr Mitchell accused GBHRA Vice-President Joe Darville of being “lost in space” on the matter, and cautioned the organisation not to “play numbers with the future of The Bahamas”.

Mr Mitchell said until the GBHRA “can decide where its loyalties lie and start speaking truthful commentary,” it remains “an organisation which lacks creditability”.

He also accused the group for defaming the officers employed at the Department of Immigration.

On Tuesday, Mr Darville called on Mr Christie to “put a stop to” Mr Mitchell’s attempts to have Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade investigate alleged comments of incitement made during a town hall meeting held on August 7 at the Church of God Auditorium on Joe Farrington Road for members of the Haitian community.

Mr Darville said the move by Mr Mitchell was a “callous bid to further his political ambitions.” Blasting the Fox Hill MP for seeking to “frighten those who he would like to silence by setting the police on them,” Mr Darville suggested that the move was an attempt by the Cabinet minister to “deflect attention from all the failures of his government over the past three years.”

Mr Darville also said that since the GBHRA began to speak out against the “harsh and illegal” immigration policy launched by the government last year, he and his colleagues have been branded as “traitors, insurgents or enemies of the Bahamas” by PLP supporters and their cronies.

In a statement yesterday, however, Mr Mitchell said Mr Darville is “lost in space and so is the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association.”

“The minister of immigration is sworn to protect the borders of this country and its national security,” Mr Mitchell said. “That is not the job of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association. I carry it without fear or favour.

“Mr Darville and his colleagues should not play numbers with the future of the Bahamas.”

In another statement sent hours after the first one, Mr Mitchell continued: “The latest release by Joe Darville is pathetic. He cannot deny that he and his organisation have defamed the officers of the Department of Immigration.”