FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell says it is time for the country to put a Bahamian as the country’s head of state, one who, he said, should either be selected by the Bahamian people or government.

“It is time to have a Bahamian head of state elected by the people or chosen by the representatives of our people,” Mr Mitchell said in a voice note released yesterday.

“The state of affairs and the need for change 50 years later, is like Michael Manley used to say impatient of debate, but even in so-called ‘radical Jamaica’, you will hear it said, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ or there are some more important things to do than constitutional change. But, the stark reality is this - as benign as things look, as the monarchy appears, as unobtrusive and inexpensive as it appears, there has to be something wrong and rotten in the state of Denmark when a European leader is the embodiment of the state of dispersed Africans on the far flung islands in the Caribbean.”

“Some day, some generation will have to fix this. Until then, I guess we’ll soldier along as we have with the obvious staring in our faces, but we’ll pretend like Bob Dylan said in his song that we just don’t see.”

Mr Mitchell has previously voiced support for The Bahamas becoming a republic.

Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death last year, Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis suggested that he would also support the move, but said at the time that his administration will ultimately let Bahamians decide whether The Bahamas should transition into a republic.

Mr Davis recently led a delegation to London to attend the coronation of King Charles III. The event, which drew large crowds and was seen around the world, was held on Saturday.