Mitchell encourages activists to work to see constitutional changes, but until then “that is the way it is”.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The royal visit slated for next week sends sets The Bahamas back 100 years, Reverend Sebastian Campbell said yesterday.
The official royal visit, slated for March 24-26, will see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge represent Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as part of celebrations to mark her Platinum Jubilee.
“That The Bahamas is even paying for this quote on quote royal visit; I am very sad about that and I don’t think that is the right direction this country should be going in,” he told Eyewitness News, when contacted for comment.
“We are still a long shot from taking this country to where it ought to be and that is a republic following such countries such as Barbados [Dominica, Guyana, Trinidad etc]
“Having a royal visit will only put us back probably another 100 years in mire of this colonial mindset.
He continued: “I think the time is long overdue; and continuing to bring these colonial figures into a country will continue to play with the minds of our people that this is where we ought to be; this is where we ought to stay.
“I call on the Davis-led government to think about what we are doing to play with people’s minds and call them to build on the progress started by people like Sir Lynden Pindling, Arthur Hanna, Paul Adderley etc.
“I pray God that this will be the last one that we see, the last colonial visit of these colonial figures.”
This should not turn into a kind of bitter personal thing against these two individuals; we should be polite and welcoming given the constitutional position. But at the same time, those who are in favor of changing the constitutional position should continue to work and let’s move toward that position if that’s what the Bahamian people want — Fred Mitchell
Campbell, who chairs the National Heroes Committee, said a cross-section of Bahamians fought for a long time to abolish colonial orders in The Bahamas.
He said he thought those orders would become a thing of the past when The Bahamas implemented national orders under the Christie administration.
But Queen’s orders and honors continued under the last administration.
“The past government brought on colonial orders competing with the national orders and we had thought that the time for colonial orders had gone,” Campbell said.
“Unfortunately, Minnis-led government justified the colonial orders being offered at the same time as the national orders, and that would cause Bahamians always to think of foreign being better than that which is local.”
Campbell pointed out that prominent figures such as Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell has been supportive of The Bahamas becoming a republic.
He called on parliamentarians to publicly express their view on the “colonial mentality that we have in our country and how many of them support the visit of the colonial figures in the next day or two”.
When contacted, Mitchell said as a minister of the government he could not offer a view on the visit other than what has been expressed historically “and my position has not changed”.
In December 2021, Mitchell said he was committed to seeing The Bahamas become a republic.
Yesterday, Mitchell said given The Bahamas’ constitutional position, the visit consists with that.
The minister said there was no complaint about the cost of the visit as “if you want a monarchy, then this is what a monarchy costs, so that is the way it is”.
But he encouraged activists to continue work to see constitutional changes.
“This should not turn into a kind of bitter personal thing against these two individuals; we should be polite and welcoming given the constitutional position,” Mitchell said.
“But at the same time, those who are in favor of changing the constitutional position should continue to work and let’s move toward that position if that’s what the Bahamian people want.”
It said the itinerary for the visit was designed to achieve specific objectives and taken advantage of the opportunity to “shift the way in which we wish to be seen on the world stage”, given the likely international press.
Prince William and Kate Middleton will visit New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco with a series of events and showcases, including a ‘taste of The Bahamas’ cultural event that will take place in Parliament Square.
The royals touched down in Belize on Saturday, but not without some protest forcing changes to their schedule.
According to Reuters, an event planned on the eve of the Duke and Duchess’ departure was scraped after a few dozen villagers staged a protest.
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