The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Fred Mitchell is still punch-drunk from the devastating defeat of his party in the last election and his own surprising defeat in the Fox Hill Constituency. That must be why he does not seem to be able to collect his thoughts in a rational way.

But in spite of what Mr Mitchell says, it was a brilliant move by Prime Minister Minnis and his Government to send a Magistrate to Inagua to deal with the latest lot of Haitians trying to enter the Bahamas illegally.

Furthermore, I commend the Prime Minister for tackling this vexing problem head-on after years of much talk by many people. It is a great idea to have a detention centre at Inagua, our southernmost island where every Haitian sloop carrying migrants must pass to gain access to the archipelago.

With modern surveillance equipment and resources for the Defence Force and the Immigration Department, no slow-moving Haitian boat should be able to get past Inagua undetected and sail politely up through the islands to land at Coral Harbour. That’s disgraceful. They should and must be stopped at Inagua and returned to Haiti.

That will save the country many millions in detention and repatriation costs and will discourage this illegal activity. It will also help the local economy of Inagua. If Dr Minnis and his Government can accomplish this, they will be doing a great service to the country and the Bahamian people will be forever grateful to them.

OLD TIMER

Nassau,

March 21, 2018