MINISTER of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell issued an apparent veiled threat at Baha Mar CEO and developer Sarkis Izmirlian, saying that if previous ministers of immigration such as Carl Francis, Arthur Hanna or Loftus Roker were faced with Mr Izmirlian in their day, “he would not have lasted the next day within the borders of The Bahamas”.
However, he added: “These are of course different times, kindler gentler days.
“But my predecessor in Fox Hill used to say: not only one woman born a crazy child. If you could play crazy, I can play crazy too.”
Mr Mitchell also accused Mr Izmirlian of acting “irresponsibly” when the resort filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States last month.
He also suggested that the foreign investor – who has permanent residence in The Bahamas – has got to be “crazy” for the statements he made about the government last week.
Mr Mitchell’s comments came during Independence Day celebrations in Exuma last week.
“You know that right now the prime minister is in the midst of a difficult mediation to get the Baha Mar project in Cable Beach in Nassau back on track,” Mr Mitchell said. “It is clear that the developer acted irresponsibly by seeking to remove the fate of that development out of The Bahamas to the courts of the United States of America.
“You heard the prime minister explain his role and his response to the attack by the developer on Mr Christie personally. The prime minister questioned the man’s mental state.
“You remember the late Sir Lynden Pindling who faced off before the NBC journalists in the United States and how he dealt with them as they accused him of being involved in political malfeasance. He said: ‘You all (must be) crazy.’
“So one Prime Minister Lynden Pindling set the stage, the lawyers call it precedent. The language was different but the thought the same. You can’t come to The Bahamas and talk to our leaders anyway you like. You (got to) be crazy.
“That’s why we are independent. No one can come in our country and talk to us any kind of way. This is our country. Those who don’t like how we do things here are free to find the door. Friends are welcomed to stay. When you do business here, there must be decorum and a respectful way to behave.”
Last Monday, Baha Mar released a scathing statement about the government, accusing the Christie administration of “concocting a sideshow for its own purposes”.
This came after the Ministry of Finance accused the resort of being slow to provide necessary information, thus delaying salary payments to the resort’s employees.
Baha Mar dismissed this claim and said the government’s delay in staff payments was “unconscionable and disappointing”.
Hours later, Mr Christie said he had “grave concern for the state of Mr Izmirlian’s mind” due to the intemperate and incorrect tone of the press release.
Mr Christie said: “It is particularly regrettable, that at a time when rationality and cool heads are required to deal with the current crisis at Baha Mar, the company’s leadership appears to be going to pieces under the mounting pressure.”
The war of words is part of an ongoing saga which unfolded after Baha Mar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US on June 29, something Mr Christie has said came “without notice” to the government.
A government delegation led by Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson is in China now for negotiations, set to begin today, on the Baha Mar impasse.
Comments
Hogfish 9 years, 5 months ago
comforting rhetoric for any would be future investors....
sheeprunner12 9 years, 5 months ago
What in the hell is Fweddy talking about???????? Can Fweddy tell us how and why Izzie got to The Bahamas ............... was it similar to Nygard & Co.?????????
Fweddy you really sound bitchy here ............................. we need to talk less and think more now.
bahamian242 9 years, 5 months ago
Well that's one thing I know he can't do! Yes he could, but you would have to buy him out, and the Bahamas can't it afford that all!
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 5 months ago
Just listen to this arrogant arse hole. What a shameful display of insolence! Mitchell needs to stick his nose where it properly belongs, specifically the passport office where he should be sorting out the mess that requires Bahamians to wait more than 3 months for their passports!!
Publius 9 years, 5 months ago
Go straight to hell Mitchell
MonkeeDoo 9 years, 5 months ago
Mitchell sounds like the Greek Finance Minister who is no more. The Greeks have had to suck the European hind tit and unless Mitchell knows how this little, tiny, insignificant country can feed and clothe itself without foreigners then God Help us. No doubt he would delight in us all wandering around like Adam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GrassRoot 9 years, 5 months ago
Not sure who had the idea to have a man that does not know how to smile to represent our sunny Bahamasland as foreign minister.
asiseeit 9 years, 5 months ago
Yes and if we where still a colony of the U.K. most if not all of the PLP government would be in Fox Hill at her majesty's prison so shut the hell up!
jus2cents 9 years, 5 months ago
We all know corrupt leaders become corrupt dictators and this inevitably opens the door to terrorism, times are scary and the world’s safety is teetering on a tight, tightrope right now. We need to keep our allies not make enemies of them, it is not a time for hotheads making threats to investors. If Minister Mitchell truly wants to help the nation and keep it secure he should let the PM fight his own battles and concentrate on his own issues at Immigration, maybe start by getting rid of all semblance of corruption under his portfolio. Preliminary with the new $200.00 'rush' fee to process a Bahamian passport…..really? To the layman it just reeks of underhanded shadyness so dump it. This is a time to make a legacy be a Good one, and one for Good. http://carnegieendowment.org/files/corr… http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/06/06…
licks2 9 years, 5 months ago
I wonder what the hell MR. Mitch thinks he is doing by saying such childish things? Where is our PM when ya need him to "put one of he bouys them in check". . .
Miles Munroe said that they were going to go crazy. . .but not this crazy I didn't think!!
Chucky 9 years, 5 months ago
I've been sitting here with a foreign investor all day, and he took one look at this story and says this is not the place for him. And I quote "Many nations will accommodate an investor, treat him or her with respect, support and consideration, this article is a threat to all of us, and that's more than I'm willing to contemplate".
So much for that investment! Good job Mitchel! Scared another one away!
OMG 9 years, 5 months ago
Fred , wake up ,this nation is a fly speck on the international circuit. If all the winter residents and investors left "fweddie" would not have a pot to piss in let alone all his expensive travel trips.
Reality_Check 9 years, 5 months ago
Freddy Boy is now panicking at the prospect of the Irzmirlian family possibly interfering with the one significant weakness the Chinese have discovered he has: A fondness for little yellow fellas!
Economist 9 years, 5 months ago
Little fish in a very small pond and they think they is big...sad
banker 9 years, 5 months ago
There is no comfort anywhere for a Bahamian patriot. It has been often said that the intelligence of a political party can be measured by taking the IQ of the dumbest member and dividing it by the number of adherents. Mitchell is proving it here. There is no hope -- you can't cure stupid. And to see Mr. Mitchell quote a known criminal is just plain sad. We are the laughingstock of the world.
crabman 9 years, 5 months ago
I believe that is about the same thing Hitler had said, and Pharaoh, and Stalin, and Castro, and on and on and on.
We would not need that much in the way of foreign investments if our own people would invest in their own country, but wealthy Bahamians are SMART enough to know that they SHOULD NOT TRUST THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT, if you would deport someone for not dancing to YOUR MUSIC, what would you do to someone you cannot deport, throw them in FOX HILL.
The Chinese influence is starting to infiltrate our own government, Communism is just around the corner.
God Help US All, and once the communist party takes over,you will not even be allowed to say that.
Good Day and Good Luck, my fellow Bahamians.
Stapedius 9 years, 5 months ago
Why can't we all just laugh at the saga which is playing out. Just chill the f out.
crabman 9 years, 5 months ago
Just chill out, wasn't that what they said to the Lucayan and Carib Indians just before they were wiped out?
Gladiator 9 years, 5 months ago
Mitchell you're a retarded xenophobe and deserve no place in the Government. You have as much sense as a headless chicken.
TruePeople 9 years, 5 months ago
Well lord dis man a real fool. Everyone upset cus it's jobs dey want yinno, and it's dem same job what chinses look like dey could create AND WE KNOW our own govt can't create. Den when tings get rough our mp's is act like fool like dis muh bey!
I want smack dis fool with one fact for all he 'get out of the bahamas' bs : our money ein even bahamian!
Dats right man! we have US money and some show show 'bahamian money' just to make tourist feel like they're abroad. 6M tourist a year is our economy.
Bey y'all take out dese same foreginer dat ppl like to dis so quick out the picture the bahamas would be just like Haiti. YA bey, freddy would be like one a dem boys who get caugh in one boat off exuma - den you seem him ball for Lord and Mercy!
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