NASSAU, The Bahamas – Characterizing Mr. Rose’s work in Houston, Texas as “groundbreaking,” Bahamas Foreign Minster Hon. Fred Mitchell again offered the proposition that within a decade, there will be a need for a professional Consul General in Houston as is the case in Washington DC. This will, according to Mitchell, enable The Bahamas government to more effectively interact with and more efficiently address the needs of the growing Bahamian Diaspora in the United States.
The Minister delivered these remarks at a commissioning ceremony today (Monday, 23rd February 2015) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where His Excellency Lynden Rose was officially commissioned as the country’s latest Honorary Consul.
Mitchell further advised Mr. Rose that he was now on the frontline in defending the international reputation of The Bahamas and he pointed to recent attacks against The Bahamas in the wake of the enforcement efforts of this country’s immigration laws as one tangible example; the Minister characterized much of the assertions in the public domain as “false”.
Mitchell also said that when he held initial discussions about a Honourary Consul in Houston with former Mayor Lee Brown, his first choice was Mr. Rose in light of his pioneering work in America’s largest state of Texas in assisting Bahamian students and representing The Bahamas as a goodwill ambassador generally.
Also welcoming Mr. Rose was Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Philip Brave Davis who reiterated the theme and importance of family values to the personal successes in both of their lives. Mr. Davis credited the wise counsel and strict discipline of the Rose family’s patriarch, the late Cecil Rose Sr., for this success.
In accepting the appointment, Mr. Rose repeatedly told the large gathering of family, friends and well wishers that “charity begins at home and ends abroad” as he recounted his humble beginnings as a “newspaper boy” in Nassau who, through desire, hard work and discipline, elevated himself to become an elite athlete, to sit with governors and Presidents to advise on policy matters; to become a successful attorney at law and entrepreneur; and to eventually represent the land of his birth in his adopted home of Texas. He credited his success to the value system imparted by his parents, but he credited his late brother Cecil, with being the original and ultimate ambassador.
Also bringing brief remarks of welcome was Bahamas Consul General in Miami, HE Ricardo Treco within whose jurisdiction the state of Texas falls.
