Yes, Minister Gray will reap what he has apperantly being sowing for awhile, but if our Long Island friend had spoken up as well perhaps he would have kept his post in crooked island.

It appears likely that a criminal act was committed on the part of Minister Gray by interfering with a judicial matter. Please refer to the excellent article on the Nassau Guardian website today. The Mayaguana administrator Mr. Newbold has told the guardian that minister gray contacted him twice on this matter in fact the quote from the guardian is:

Yesterday, Newbold said, “The ball is not in my court right now. I didn’t order him on bail. As far as I am concerned, he was ordered free. He was set free.
“As far as I understand, he is not on bail. I ordered him to be set free. Whatever order came forth, I set him free.”

This directly contradicts Minister Gray and if true he should be prosecuted.

Forgive me, I got my Freds mixed up, but they are both thin skinned, so the comment applies, at least Fred Smith is now being conciliatory.

Fred Smith is the most "thin skinned " politician I have ever seen, really because of this trait he is in the wrong line of work. And if you can not see that he has personalized this debate, specifically between himself and Fred Smith then you are either blind or simply dishonest. Instead of him adopting a conciliatory tone after the hearing, as Fred Smith did, or by attempting for the first time to materially address the specific abuse allegations made, he launches in a personal diatribe against the GBHRA. that says volumes!

Birdie, Mr. Mitchell is a very intelligent man who knows exactly the ramifications of his comments. It is a deliberate and calculated move to create hostility against these human rights activists and to intimidate them for what seems purely political gain and that is shameful. I do not fear the retribution from the govt against these persons, I do believe we are beyond that but I do fear for the safety of these persons while in their own country. If anything happens to these persons it will be in no small part because of this antagonistic, flamboyant rhetoric and those persons making such comments and attempting to demonize those who oppose them will bear a great deal of culpability for any violence that may happen.

Good point, Mr. miller is the most forceful advocate for why his job should be made redundant. If he is so powerless why are we paying him $100,000? Please fire him and reduce my bill if only by $1 per year.

Does Mr. Mitchell ever learn?, when wil he stop playing politics with this sensitive national issue? perhaps he should review the last five minutes of the hearing when the govt was warned by the commission to refrain from in any way from intimidating or seeking retribution against these human rights activists. He is shamefully creating an atmosphere of needless hostility against these people. If only we could have Mr. Gomez as our point person on immigration, his tone was measured, reasonable and fair, I for one was proud of his discourse and his pledge not to harass or intimidate these human rights activist, in short he was and is everything Mr. Mitchell is not. It is past time for Mr. Mitchell to stop personalizing this issue, stick to the facts, let us debate them and compromise in a genuine way and we will all be the better off for it.

Fred Mitchell has been pandering to the Bahamian voters. He has taken a very hard line verbally against illegal immigrants, but his actions especially in creating Belongers status is the best news ever for them. I follow the actions and I am very pleased with them. These anti- immigrants and die hard plp's do not realize the rug has been pulled out from under them by Fred Mitchell and they have been sold down the river.

Birdie where to begin? I am not sure when the improvements to the detention center took place, apparently they have been since November 1 st. Let us be glad that they have been done and thank the govt. Fred Smith in his presentation did not say ALL immigration officers were abusive toward illegal immigrants those are your words. Do not misrepresent what he said. To believe that there have been no abuses in thousands of interactions is simply naive and untrue. Do we have an adequate number of interpreters? I can not say perhaps we do not. It makes no difference as to the nationality of the members of the IACHCR why you feel this is an issue is beyond me. Finally, do you realize the ramifications of the creation of belonger permits, soon to be law by your PLP govt, they have changed the law and I am sure you will not like it. It will lead to Tens of thousands of persons born in this country of Haitian descent to be regularized with all rights save the right to vote. You have lost the battle and have the PLP to thank, they have capitulated on virtually every issue and I am glad and applaud them for it.

Birdie, I am sure this meeting was arranged quite sometime ago. In fact I knew of it over a month ago. View the hearing more as an oral history of what has happened, on that account everything Fred Smith said was true, there was none of his inflammatory rhetoric. Please document these lies you are referring to, I watched the entire hearing and heard none. He simply put his best case forward. The government could not refute in detail anything he said because it was true. So Minister Gomez put his best case forward with the improvements that have taken place without addressing for the most part specific complaints. He did the best he could with a difficult hand. It is important to continue to hold the govt accountable as this has led to a more humane and just process, even you I think would admit that, and for that Mr Smith deserves our gratitude.