BENJAMIN SNUBS GRENADA TODAY  

Deputy Political Leader of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) Reynold Benjamin has accused the Grenada Today newspaper of always writing negative articles about him.

Benjamin, a Barrister-at Law by profession had to fight for his political survival on Sunday, during the GULP's convention at Seamoon, after supporters refused to accept him as the deputy political leader. He is sharing the position with Opposition Leader Michael Baptiste.

Uniformed police officers had to stand guard to the entrance of the platform, to prevent angry labour supporters from confronting executive members, when the lawyer's name was announced. Shouts of Benjamin is a NNP no, no no greeted him during the announcement which threw the convention into chaos and caused a major delay that lasted for over forty-five minutes. The city Barrister was once associated with the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell. He was only allowed into the executive following a vote which was put forward to the delegates by presiding officer for the election in the convention Neville Rennie.

Although the Barrister-at Law made it onto the executive, some of the delegates abstained from voting. When this newspaper approached Benjamin for a comment following a break he declined. "Which newspaper you are with again" he asked the reporter covering the convention.  The reporter responded by saying Grenada Today. "Well you don't need a comment from me, you can write anything you want, you are accustomed you don't have to change"  an angry Benjamin responded.

During his acceptance speech he noted that there is too much of what he described as "pulling and tugging", within the labour camp. He pointed out that this is not the time for that because the focus is on ensuring the party achieves its goal, since every one is dissatisfied with the present administration. The Deputy Political leader told supporters, that now the convention is over the task ahead was to unite the people of the country.

According to Benjamin, Sunday can be described as a successful day for the party since it gave them the opportunity to unveil the GULP's secret weapon. It is thought that he was speaking about political leader Gloria Payne- Banfield who was unanimously elected by the delegates and observers at the convention.

However he warned against complacency, saying that because the GULP has a capable political leader, the work of the party must not be left for her alone to carry out.