Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday said that a lack of proper succession planning has created a knowledge gap in The Bahamas.

While offering remarks during a one-day Foreign Affairs Employee Seminar at the Goodman’s Bay Corporate Centre, Minister Mitchell said that in the public service, employees are usually asked to extend their retirement years simply because there is no one available to replace the individual.

“There is talk about the fact that in so much of our public service there is not much attention paid to succession planning,” he said.

“Succession planning is not done in our country the way many others countries do it. It is rather less formal. In other words, it takes place largely through death or the effluxion of time. One thing we know, however, is whether we plan or whether we do not, change will come. New faces will take our places. The issue for those at the helm today is whether or not we have done enough within parameters of our remit to ensure that the institution goes on.”

Minster Mitchell suggested that each year the government select a group of young people to join the public system in an effort to prevent any knowledge gap and to also ensure that the future is secured in every area of government, but he also reminded those entering the public service that it is not just a nine to five job.

The minister expressed hope that Monday’s seminar is the first of what will be three discussions with staff members who he encouraged to be fully committed to their jobs

“When you signed the public service form, you agreed to be called upon at any time and to serve in any place,” he said.

“If that is not what you want to do then you are in the wrong place. We must all try to do thing quickly and with dispatch and accurately. The culture of our country is too deliberative and in the result we lose so many opportunities because of it.”

He also foreshadowed plans to host the first diplomatic week in October.

Within that week, ambassadors would be invited to New Providence to discuss the country’s relations with their governments.