Minister Mitchell is being painted as a villain by so many people, both here and abroad, but I want him to know that there are a lot of Bahamians who fully support the work that he is doing in the Ministry of Immigration and will continue to stand behind him as we believe that he carries out his duties fairly, honestly, without prejudice or a hidden agenda.
It has been a while since I was the Administrator for an offshore company with an office here in Nassau but I can attest to the fact that some of these international companies try their best to “put one over” on the Government when it comes to work permits for the expatriates that they want to bring in. I remember several instances in which my former employers did this but one, in particular, stands out. In this case, the company had already brought in two expats as tourists, and they were already working at the office, but yet the Assistant Vice President continued to interview Bahamians for the positions which they knew had already been filled. I was so frustrated that they were making a mockery of the whole immigration process and that they actually made jokes about our Bahamianization policy. To add insult to injury, Bahamians who should have been promoted to the two positions advertised in the first place, were told to train these “experienced and educated” expats. However, the expats were making at least twice the salary of the Bahamians who were training them, and were also receiving perks like tuition for their kids, gas and vacation allowances, and expense accounts to boot. The Bahamians were not!
The expats working in my former company had a joke that they would tell from time to time, especially when other expats were visiting. “A woman went to the foodstore to buy some items and decided to add brains to her list of purchases. As she checked out the prices of the brains, she noticed the different prices: American brains - $0.25/lb., Canadian brains - $0.60/lb., English brains - $0.45/lb., Chinese brains - $0.10/lb., French brains - $0.50/lb., German brains - $0.35/lb., Bahamian brains - $25.00/lb. The woman was astonished at the high cost of the Bahamian brains and asked the Manager why there was such a disparity. The Manager, who was a foreigner himself, gleefully replied that the Bahamian brains cost so much because it was extremely difficult to find them anywhere.
I still do not know why those expats came to work in this country, as they thought so little of its people. In that particular case, there were Bahamians who were qualified and capable of filling those “vacancies” but they were denied the opportunity to do so, and I am pretty sure that this type of thing is still happening today. So, Minister Mitchell, thank you for standing up for the Bahamian people. It has been a very long time since anyone did!
I