Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday dismissed statements made by Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Chipman over a diplomatic note sent to three countries last week.
"The day that I begin to take political and diplomatic advice from the member of Parliament for St. Anne's will be the day that pigs grow wings and fly," he said. Mitchell issued a diplomatic note to the governments of Malaysia, China and the United States last week, distancing the government from comments made by Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis over the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
"The issue today is not whether we issued another note, which simply indicated our continuing concern about the loss of life in light of the leader of the opposition's irresponsible remarks; the issue is whether or not the remarks of the leader of the opposition were appropriate," said Mitchell at a press conference at his constituency office.
"That's the issue here, not what me or the government did after that."
On Thursday, Chipman said it was "irresponsible and inappropriate" for Mitchell to send the note which may seem "frivolous".
He said Prime Minister Perry Christie should not have allowed Mitchell to send the note and called on Christie to
"rein in his out of control foreign minister".
But Mitchell said it is impossible for his ministry to do anything without Cabinet's approval.
He said Christie made a statement expressing his displeasure with Minnis' comments and his ministry simply "backed up what its leader said".
"The statements given on the lost aircraft were statements from and on behalf of the government of The Bahamas, not the personal statements of the minister of foreign affairs," he said.
"Are they nuts?"
He added, "It is impossible for this minister, as a minister of foreign affairs, to go running off doing something without reference to his principal. [It] can't be done, otherwise I would be out of a job."
Minnis compared the Christie administration to the airline as he criticized the government for its handling of the proposed constitutional referendum.
At an event in Mayaguana last week, Christie said Minnis should be condemned for his
"ill-spoken" remarks.
Mitchell said Chipman's statement was "another attempt by the FNM to deflect attention away from the ineptness of the statements of the leader of the opposition".
"Both he and the opposition's spokesman on foreign affairs appear therefore to be lost in space when it comes to matters of public policy," he said.
Malaysia Airlines flight 370 went missing on March 8, during a flight from Malaysia to Beijing, China. There were 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers onboard.
A massive multi-nation search is continuing for the aircraft.

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